Ayotzinapa Case: Authorities Were Aware of the Events

The Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) denounced on Tuesday the lies and omissions on the part of Mexico's military authorities at the time about the disappearance of the 43 Ayotzinapa normalistas in September 2014.

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The GIEI's sixth and final report on the Ayotzinapa case found that several then-current officials at different levels knew what happened to the 43 students and concealed and manipulated information.

The report denounces the different levels of involvement of all state corporations in the disappearance of the youths, from the municipal and state police to the federal police, the Army, and state intelligence agencies. They knew what was happening with the youths minute by minute, as the text points out.

The GIEI found that the Navy manipulated evidence in the case in joint operations that were kept secret. They detained and tortured several accused, from which the first and false official version was constructed.

The tweet reads, "Today the Ayotzinapa GIEI presented its sixth and final report on the Ayotzinapa case What are the latest revelations in the case and why did the GIEI decide to end its work?"

Videos were revealed showing how those involved in the case were threatened and tortured. The GIEI also brought to light that during the attack, prior to the disappearance of the normalistas, the police received close to 500 calls denouncing the crime.

The new evidence presented by the group shows that there was constant communication between municipal, state, ministerial, and federal police elements, as well as the military.

The text also points out that soldiers who said they were resting or in military centers on the night of the events were identified and linked to the places where a group of students were taken.

AMLO on the GIEI investigation in the Ayotzinapa case

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador expressed his gratitude to two of the GIEI, Spanish doctor Carlos Martín Beristain and Colombian lawyer Ana María Buitrago, who presented the new evidence in the case and are concluding their work in Mexico.

"We thanked them for what they have done; it is a good investigation," said AMLO, noting that his government will continue with the inquiries to find those responsible for the forced disappearance of the 43 students of the Isidro Burgos Rural Normal School in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero.

"The investigation is very advanced. I am committed to knowing the whole truth about the disappearance of the normalistas, and I am going to comply," said the president.

Angela Buitrago and Carlos Beristáin, who are part of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), decided to end their participation in the case after having worked in Mexico since 2015. 

Both experts denounced the unwillingness of the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena), the Secretariat of the Navy (Semar) and the now defunct Center for Investigation and National Security (Cisen) regarding the alleged participation of some of their elements in the disappearance of the young people.