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Mexico mayor, wife blamed for missing students

Officials: Mexican mayor, wife ordered student disappearance

By Mary Papenfuss

IGUALA, Mexico, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- Mexican officials have issued an arrest warrant for the mayor of Iguala and his wife, who authorities say were the "probable masterminds" in the disappearance and suspected murder of 43 protesting college students in September.

Mayor Jose Luis Abarca and wife Maria de los Angeles Pineda wanted to get rid of the students because they didn't want their protest to disrupt a political event hosted in the town by Pineda the same day, according to Attorney General Jesus Murillo. The couple vanished soon after the students did and are believed to be on the run.

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The actual killers in the restive southwestern state of Guerero were likely members of the gang Guerreros Unidos, or "United Warriors," which has ties to the local police and Pineda, according to officials. But gang leader Sidronio Casarrubias, who was captured last week, said it was the mayor and his wife who ordered police to get rid of the students as the protesters clashed with cops.

Police fatally shot six people, including three students, and turned the rest over to gang members, who were told that the protesters belonged to a rival crew and presumably killed them, according to Murillo.

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The killings have shocked the international community and even violence-inured Mexico, triggered major protests and are threatening the stability of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto's government.

At least 52 people, including several police officers, have already been arrested in the crime. Authorities are continuing to search nine mass grave sites in the area, where 30 bodies have already been recovered. In a particularly chilling twist, none of the bodies have yet been identified as any of the students.

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