Ayotzinapa Case: Spring 2016 Update, Resources

It’s been over a year and a half since buses of students were attacked by local police and organized crime on the night of September 26, 2014 in the town of Iguala, Guerrero in Mexico. Six people were killed, over forty people were injured, and forty-three students from the Ayotzinapa teachers’ college were forcibly disappeared.

What can YOU do right now? Spread the word that the international community is paying attention: Share the link to the report and livestream on Facebook and Twitter; Forward this page to your networks and friends; And talk with colleagues, family, and friends to educate more people about the Ayotzinapa case. Help our message ring loud and clear: NO to impunity, NO to closing the Ayotzinapa investigation.

In the time since:

• The Mexican government concluded that the students were taken to a nearby trash dump and burned by local organized crime group, but that explanation has been proven impossible by two separate reports from independent experts;
• Over 100 people have been arrested, but of those people arrested, 50% reported they were tortured or abused by Mexican police or military (thus placing any testimony in question), and less than 5% of them have been charged with enforced disappearance;
• Authorities have conclusively identified the remains of only one of the forty-three students, and possibly one other, while the rest remain missing;Photo credit: Emma Buckhout, Mexico City
• Experts found evidence of the involvement of Mexican military forces in the case, yet the government has denied them access to interview the military unit in question;
• The groups of independent experts, the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF) and the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) have suffered escalating pushback from the government and defamation campaigns in the media;
• The Mexican government has reverted to backing its trash dump theory despite all other evidence;

And the families, friends, and fellow students remain without truth or justice for the disappearance of their loved ones.

The GIEI’s mandate ended April 30th. While there is much more work to be done, and the families would like the GIEI to continue its work, the hostility of the Mexican government and media is making it impossible. On Sunday, April 24th, the GIEI released their final report on their investigation of the case. They are asking for international support to hold the Mexican government accountable to implement the conclusions of the report, and most importantly, to continue the search for truth and justice for the families. It is important more than ever that we stand with them now.

See the GIEI’s final report and additional resources on its website here. See LAWG’s summary of the final report findings, recommendations, and reactions here.

You have spoken out to say that this is something no parent, brother, sister, or friend should have to face. You helped us spread the word with fellow activists, as well as with our policymakers in the United States. Thanks to your activism, the U.S. government spoke out and historically withheld aid for Mexico because it wasn’t meeting human rights standards. But now, more than ever, the families of the Ayotzinapa students and the Group of Experts fighting for truth in their case need our support to spread the message on the international stage that the Ayotzinapa investigation must not be left in impunity.

For more information on the recent developments in the case and pushback from the Mexican government, see the following LAWG resources:

• April 2016:
  • Defamation Campaigns against Group of Experts, Executive Secretary of the IACHR Are Dangerous, Unacceptable
  • Mexican Government Breaks Agreement: Implications for Remainder of GIEI Mandate
• February 2016
  • GIEI Presents Update and Obstacles in Second Phase of Ayotzinapa Investigation
  • LAWGEF Supports Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team Report Refuting Cocula Trash Dump Theory in Ayotzinapa Case
  • LAWGEF Joins Organizations in Denouncing Defamation Campaign against International Group of Experts Investigating the Enforced Disappearance of the 43 Students in Mexico

For more background from the last year, see the following LAWG resources and calls to action on the case:

• December 2015: LAWGEF Calls for Support to Advance Investigation into 43 Disappeared Students in Mexico
• October 2015: Ayotzinapa One Year Later: Calling for Justice for the 43 Students
• September 2015
  • Tell Secretary Kerry: Stand with Families of Mexican Disappeared Students
  • One Year after Ayotzinapa: LAWG Remembers the 43 Disappeared Students, Calls for Respect, Reparations and Protection to Victims & Families
  • LAWG Calls for Implementation of Group of Experts’ Report Recommendations and Immediate Clarification on Investigation Discrepancies
• August 2015: LAWGEF and Partners Support Extending Experts’ Mandate to Investigate Ayotzinapa, Disappearances in Mexico
• July 2015:
  • Message to Secretary Kerry: Human Rights, Not Military Aid, for Mexico
  • Congress to Secretary Kerry: Support Human Rights, End to Impunity in Mexico
• June 2015: Urgent Letter: Tell your representative to support justice in Mexico
• May 2015: Ayotzinapa: Where Are Our Disappeared?
• March 2015: Spread the Word: #JusticeForAyotzinapa
• February 2015: Ayotzinapa Case Update: The Case Is NOT Closed on Enforced Disappearance in Mexico
• December 2014: Stand for Justice and Peace in Mexico this Human Rights Day
• October 2014: Todos Somos Ayotzinapa: Calls for Justice in Mexico after a Student Massacre

*Post updated May 5, 2016