Advertisement

Investigators probing missing Mexican students concerned over access

By Andrew V. Pestano

MEXICO CITY, June 30 (UPI) -- Inter-American Commission on Human Rights investigators looking into the disappearance of the 43 students in Mexico last year have expressed concern over government access to soldier witnesses.

In September 2014, 43 students traveled to the town of Iguala in Mexico's Guerrero and clashed with police, who opened fire. Police then handed the students over to drug gangs. Soldiers were at the scene of the clash and relatives of the missing students believe the soldiers played a role in the disappearances by failing to act.

Advertisement

The human rights investigators wanted to interview dozens of soldiers who may have witnessed the event, where three students and three people also died and 25 people were wounded in the confrontation. The commission's report is due in September.

Further investigation into the incident revealed that the police was infiltrated by drug gangs. The three suspects in the case, Patricio Reyes, Jhonatan Osorio and Agustin Garcia, confessed to killing the students and burning the bodies, alleging they were told the students were rival drug gang members.

Only one burnt body of the 43 missing student has been found.

Advertisement

The investigators are expressing concern because the request to interview soldiers was placed more than three months ago, with a recent government reply declaring that "the state continues analyzing the source of the request."

Latest Headlines