March to mark Mexico’s missing

Epifanio Alvarez said a year ago he felt in his heart his son Jorge was still alive.

“We don’t know where they’re at, nobody knows”.

In other words, the Ayotzinapa 43 justice movement was right all along in saying “Fue El Estado” [“It was the state”].

Families, students and activists gathered in Mexico’s historic central square waving signs with photos of the missing students and demanding that Pena Nieto stepped down. Another six people were killed at the hands of the police during the attack. Unidentified bodies often turn up in clandestine graves of the kind used by drug gangs to dispose of victims. The report is just one step towards establishing the truth.

Pressure over the handling of the investigations is mounting and the only way forward for the Mexican authorities is to show, not that they are taking any kind of action, but that they are serious about finding out what happened to the 43 and ensure it never happens again.

They cited work by Jose Torero, a well-known expert on fire who had conducted field work, examined the evidence and reviewed the statements of the suspects in the case.

Sanchez confirmed Thursday that global experts would be involved in a third investigation of the alleged incineration site. The protests have centered around the families of the disappeared who this week went on a hunger strike in Mexico City.

A woman draped in a Mexican flag wore fake blood that dripped from her eyelids like tears.

According to Lopez, the next campus event regarding the missing students will be a screening this Friday of the documentary “Ayotzinapa: Chronicle of a State Crime”. The case in Iguala marked the beginning of a slide in credibility for this government that has continued ever since.

But many doubt Mexico’s ability to lead a fair investigation, after a government auditor last month exonerated Peña Nieto and his finance minister from any wrongdoing over purchases of homes from public contractors that aroused suspicions of conflict of interest.

In 2013, Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission said it had received 1,505 complaints of torture and other forms of ill-treatment, 600% more than in 2003. “The tragedy transcends Guerrero”.

In a meeting with the parents of the 43 missing students earlier this week, President Enrique Pena Nieto promised to create a special prosecutors’ office to investigate all of Mexico’s disappearances. “It is time to say that is enough and that we don’t want forced abduction anymore”, said Jessica Valdez, a student in Mexico City.

The parents asked that the unit be placed under worldwide supervision, but Sanchez said it was up to the foreign ministry to look into it.

Despite the mounting cynicism toward the government, Mora refuses to stop protesting.

“I feel like it’s very important to spread awareness, for people to learn about what’s going on outside of their communities”, Chamu said. “But only a few of them care”.