Parents lead protest of probe into missing 43 students in Mexico

Thousands of protesters have marched in Mexico City, angered by the government’s handling of an investigation into 43 students who apparently were massacred in 2014 and the government’s alleged treatment of international experts who have cast doubt on the official account. The case of the 43 trainee teachers, who were abducted in September 2014 in the violent southwestern state of Guerrero, has tarnished the reputation of President Enrique Pena Nieto and highlighted the scale of human rights abuses in Mexico. The parents and relatives of the abducted students led what appeared to be more than 2,000 protesters along the main thoroughfare of the Mexican capital, Paseo de la Reforma, carrying small torches along with large black and white photographs of the missing students.

My heart can’t take anymore. I want my son back by my side.

Blanca Luz, the mother of one of the 43 victims

The government has repeatedly said the students were abducted by corrupt police in the town of Iguala on the night of Sept. 26, 2014, who handed them over to a drug gang. The cartel then burned the students in a nearby dump, a government investigation concluded. But an international panel of experts, commissioned by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), has published a series of reports casting serious doubt on that account. In its final report published on Sunday the panel said the government had undermined its probe and accused it of stonewalling efforts to uncover the truth.

There’s clearly much more to be done and the final resolution of the case doesn’t appear to be that close.

United Nations human rights spokesman Rupert Colville

Mexico protest