Ayotzinapa Epitomizes Mexico State Collusion with Drug Cartels

The case of the 43 disappeared Ayotzinapa students is an “emblematic” example of state collusion with organized crime groups, and points to “grave deficiencies” including rampant structural impunity and other problems in the investigations, human rights experts confirmed on Wednesday.

According to a new report on the human rights situation in Mexico, observers note that Mexico has suffered a “serious violence and security crisis” for several years, propelled by the so-called “war on drugs” that has led to an increase in militarization and human rights abuses while failing to control drug cartels.

The report, by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, adds that the ramped-up role of the military in public security has “unleashed even greater violence and serious human rights violations in which a lack of accountability and accordance with international standards can be observed.”

The IACHR argues that current violence is partly the legacy of the 1960s and 1970s “Dirty War,” while also pegging some of the blame for the crisis on former Mexican President Felipe Calderon, whose administration saw tens of thousands of people killed as the militarized drug war began to be rolled out.

But the experts also add that the current government of Enrique Peña Nieto has failed to stem soaring rates of enforced disappearances, torture, insecurity, and violence against women, human rights defenders, and journalists.

IN DEPTH: Justice for Ayotzinapa

Emphasizing these high-level failings and the systematic lack of access to justice for victims and their family members, the IACHR points to the case of the 43 disappeared students in Iguala, Guerrero, in 2014 as a “serious tragedy” representing the crisis of enforced disappearances, systemic violence, and collusion between the state and organized crime syndicates in the country.

The experts state that corruption and impunity in Mexico have allowed organized crime groups to cement “true parallel power structures” while acting in direct collusion with state agents or with state consent and complicity.

protesters gather at #Mexico's supreme court to mark 17 mos since forced disappearance of #Ayotzinapa students pic.twitter.com/2yi5PmZh1C

— Clayton Conn (@ClaytonCteleSUR) February 26, 2016

The report adds that the Ayotzinapa case, which has attracted national and international attention to the crisis of disappearances in the country and especially in the violence-ridden state of Guerrero, has suffered serious problems including “almost complete structural impunity.”

The IACHR also stressed the importance of Mexico being open to collaboration with independent experts to ensure the progress on the case.

OPINION: Criminalizing the Victims: Anti-Ayotzinapa Strategy

The official version of the Ayotzinapa case claims that police abducted the 43 students in Iguala and handed them over to Guerreros Unidos, whose members killed the students, burned their bodies in the Cocula garbage dump, and tossed their remains into the San Juan River near the town of Cocula.

While even the official story admits to collusion between security forces and organized crime, independent investigators have repeatedly cast doubt on the claim that the bodies were burned in the Cocula dump.

Independent experts have also accused the government of systematic “fragmentation” of the Ayotzinapa case and setting up barriers to justice.