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With a demonstration, relatives call on the government to clarify the disappearance of the students.
Photo: Tlachinollan
(Mexico City, July 26, 2023, Tlachinollan).- The mothers and fathers of the disappeared placed great hopes in the reports of the “Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts” (GIEI – Interdisciplinary Group of Experts and Independent Experts). Now it has stopped working. For serious investigations, it would be necessary for the Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) to allow the release of all information and documents related to the case, especially the intelligence service Regional Intelligence Fusion Center (CRFI) and the military. The human rights organization Tlachinollan is active in the la Montana region. She accompanied the relatives of the 43 disappeared from Ayotzinapa from the beginning, represents them in court and supports the protests.
“The President must not forget what he promised us!”
On July 26, 2023, the mothers and fathers of the disappeared, together with social organizations, trade unions and collectives, formed for the monthly large-scale demonstration in Mexico City. For nearly nine years, they have been demanding the surrender of their missing sons alive and the release of the relevant military intelligence documents (CRFI), which remain classified to this day. “The army has more power than the president,” say the demonstrators. Immediately at the beginning of the march it began to rain heavily. But the families moved on undeterred. Umbrellas and rain ponchos were distributed to the demonstrators to protect them from the cold rain. slogans like Alive they took them, alive we want them! (“They took them alive, we want them back alive!”) continued to echo through the wide streets of the metropolis. At the rally before Antimonument for the 43+ Doña Joaquina, the mother of one of the disappeared, spoke under the pouring rain of the truth they long for: “Today, July 26, we still have hope for the truth about what happened to our children. But we feel left alone after the last report by the expert commission. You have devoted much time to finding truth to give us perspective. But the requirements for their work were not met. We don’t know why, we don’t know what the president who signed a decree and promised us to find out the truth is hiding. The President must not forget what he promised in Iguala. Now that the GIEI Commission is departing, we demand that their guidelines for investigation be followed. Many of the proposed lines of investigation were not followed. Why don’t they tell us the truth about our children? Where are they to be returned to us?”.
“We are tired of hearing so many lies”
It was above all the mothers who called on the organizations present, collectives and fellow students of the disappeared to continue until the whereabouts of their children were clarified and who asked the President to hand over the files of the intelligence service. They emphasized that “this case will not go unpunished because we will continue this fight, the love for our children is great. We are tired, but we are tired of hearing so many lies and we will not tire of searching, we will continue,” said Doña Joaquina. In her speech, Doña Hilda Legideño regretted that the expert group was withdrawing, “but they left something that should be claimed by the Mexican government. The files of the CRFI have been hidden until now. As mothers and fathers we will continue to search for our children, they are people taken from us. These are not material objects. We will keep going until we find them.”
Report of the expert group gives hope
Shortly before the mass demonstration, the mothers and fathers held a press conference at 1:00 p.m. after the GIEI submitted its sixth and final report the previous day. The families have requested an emergency meeting from Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to explain the reasons why the Defense Ministry is refusing to release the requested files, which could contain crucial information about the disappearance of the youths and their whereabouts. The mothers and fathers paid tribute to the work of the independent expert group (GIEI) over the past eight years and assured that they will not accept any alternative report from the government, but will only follow the recommendations of the expert group. They demanded that the relevant Mexican authorities follow the investigative guidelines provided by the GIEI “because they have a solid basis where the participation of all police officers is based on the statements of the Ministry of Defense itself. We believe we can find out the truth, we have hope with this report that has evidence and bases,” said Mario, one of the fathers.
Relatives criticize the handling of relevant information
They also regretted that the expert commission is leaving Mexico because the armed forces are unwilling to reveal vital information to find out the truth. This makes the work of the GIEI Commission impossible. They noted that the federal government “must divulge all archives, all information that it has on the case, to allow the Special Prosecutor’s Office to pursue proposed lines of investigation that may lead to finding the whereabouts of our youth.” Although we know that the expert commission was appointed by the International Commission on Human Rights and the government has accepted its presence in our country, its work has been made impossible. Although the government was open, it was not easy. There were disabilities. Two experts had previously left the Commission (GIEI) and the country, not seeing a serious willingness to share all the relevant information and hand it over to the prosecutor,” Don Emiliano said indignantly. According to Vidulfo Rosales, the relatives’ lawyer, “The report raises many relevant questions, but the most important point is the whereabouts of the young people. The report has already told us where they might have been taken. The references to this are in the CFRI files. We need the army to make this available to the investigative authority. She is legally obliged to do so. We don’t understand why she is so reluctant to provide this important information. If the CRFI files show that 17 students went to a place named wolves gap (“Wolfsschanze”) might have been brought, what are we waiting for to make this report available? At the time, the Ministry of Defense approved the decree establishing the Truth Commission (COVAJ – Commission for Truth and Access to Justice) was signed”.
The lawyer for the 43 also stressed that a meeting with the President of the Republic was urgently needed “to put the reasons on the table and to check what the real obstacles are that prevent this information from being made available to the investigating authority become”. Cristina Bautista expressed the feelings of the mothers and fathers who to this day have not been able to find their children or know what happened that dark night of Iguala because the lies and obstacles of the military institutions continue to hide the truth. “We are very sad, very angry and concerned that the truth will not be found. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador does not keep his word, he told us that the GIEI would conduct the investigation and that the government would work with them. But there are obstacles. You are still leaving us with good tools to further the investigation, and we will demand that. These eight years and ten months of looking for our children have not been easy and we know very well that we are not the only ones, but we suffer together with thousands who are searching for their loved ones”. Despite all obstacles, mothers and fathers affirm that their feet will not tire until the path to truth, to justice, leads to the faces of their children.
Translation: Marijan Schreckeis