By Olivia Mozdzierz

In September 2021, the world joined the parents of forty-three students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers College in marking the seventh anniversary of their children’s forced disappearance. Their abduction and disappearance, allegedly at the direction of police and other officials, took place in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero. Since 2014, public outrage over the case has mobilized civil society in Mexico, drawing international scrutiny, and exposing the previous Peña Nieto administration’s blatant cover-up of its involvement in the crime.[1]

Upon taking office in 2018, President López Obrador committed publicly to uncovering the whole truth of the Ayotzinapa students’ disappearance and likely murder. However, the slow pace of the ongoing investigation has frustrated families and human rights groups. Despite some progress — such as the appointment of a special prosecutor, the establishment of a truth commission that includes the families of the missing students, the discovery of additional possible remains, and renewal of international oversight by experts from the Organization of American States (OAS) — the case remains unresolved. Federal investigators have confirmed the deaths of just three victims. The Mexican military continues to appear untouchable by investigators, despite numerous accounts alleging their involvement and claims that the students were taken to the 27th Battalion base in Iguala, Guerrero.[2] Despite the challenge of solving a case years after the fact, along with the difficulties of restoring justice in a deeply corrupt and violent society, the Mexican government must do more to demonstrate that it will not forget the atrocity of Ayotzinapa. 

The case represents a critical test for López Obrador, the leftist, populist leader, elected based on promises to end official corruption and impunity, and who purports to be leading a fundamental transformation of Mexico. His government’s credibility and legacy will be determined in great measure by how he responds to the challenge of Ayotzinapa—among the most potent civil society movements in recent years.

The Shocking Forced Disappearance of Ayotzinapa’s Forty-Three

Against a backdrop of unrelenting violence, driven by organized crime and the government’s war on drugs, the case of the students from Ayotzinapa stood out because of its scale, the victims’ young age, and the enduring mystery around the sequence of events. Most significantly, the families of the missing students joined human rights activists and supporters abroad to sustain public outrage about the disappearances and attempt to hold the Mexican government accountable. 

Most observers despair of ever uncovering the full truth of the events or even recovering the remains of the missing forty-three. Even so, some facts of the case are incontrovertible.[3] The night of September 26, 2014, local police in the town of Iguala — aided by state and federal police and suspected elements of the Mexican army — attacked five buses filled with Ayotzinapa College students. These normalistas, as teaching college students are known in Spanish, had commandeered the buses to attend a demonstration in Mexico City for the anniversary of the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre—another atrocity that galvanized the human rights movement. The practice of taking buses, while illegal, was widely tolerated in the area. Nonetheless, that night, the authorities decided to persecute the students, kidnapping around half of them, and leaving the rest in the streets. Those taken may have been turned over to the local drug cartel or executed by government forces themselves.[4]

President Pena Nieto’s administration quickly created an elaborate cover story that disputed any high-level governmental involvement. Against all evidence, the government claimed that the normalistas had been mistaken for rival drug gangs, and that their bodies were incinerated in a single night in one location.[5] This so-called “historical truth” faced public backlash.

The government reluctantly allowed an OAS commission, the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI in Spanish), to conduct a separate investigation. The GIEI produced two major reports thoroughly discrediting the Peña Nieto government’s version of events as physically impossible. Moreover, the group disputed the identification of the purported killers, whose confessions had been extracted under torture.[6] A motive for seizing dozens of unarmed students in plain view, likely killing them, and then removing nearly all traces of their bodies, has not been definitively established. Despite much speculation, it remains a puzzling case.

Nonetheless, the involvement of Mexican state and federal authorities is well documented.[7] In reaction to the state’s abuses and failed cover-up, the country’s civil society held regular mass demonstrations throughout the country and enlisted the support of human rights groups worldwide to demand accountability.[8] The federal attorney general, who had led the efforts to exonerate the government and close the case, was forced to resign. Even the political survival of Peña Nieto appeared to be in doubt. While he remained in office until the end of his term in 2018, Peña Nieto’s reputation was irreparably tarnished.[9]

A New Government Pledges Accountability

In addition to the GIEI’s refutation of the official “historical truth,” in May 2018, a Mexican court condemned the government investigation and ordered a new one.[10] The court also called for establishing a truth commission along with a new investigation, including participation by family representatives and human rights groups. This was seen as a surprising legal victory for the victims’ families.[11] Following his campaign promises, President López Obrador made creating the commission, along with a categorical pledge to investigate the Ayotzinapa case fully, one of his first official acts in December 2018.[12] Once in office, López Obrador strengthened three state entities responsible for coordinating search efforts for all forcibly disappeared persons in Mexico: the National Search Commission, the National Search System, and, for clearing the growing backlog of missing persons cases, the Extraordinary Mechanism of Forensic Identification.[13]

Most significantly, the new government established a special unit within the attorney general’s office for Ayotzinapa, headed by Omar Gómez Trejo, a well-regarded activist and human rights lawyer who had served as executive secretary for the GIEI missions.[14] Gómez Trejo and his team argued that the evidence collected by the previous administration was tainted or fabricated. Indeed, the GIEI and UN investigations demonstrated that the police used torture to compel confessions from drug traffickers, and that the few bits of charred remains recovered at the supposed crime scene had been planted at the direction of the then-chief investigator, Tomás Zerón on October 28, 2014.[15] The new government released those detained based on unreliable evidence. It was not until March 2020 that Gómez Trejo was able to bring new charges against government and municipal officials.[16]

Limited Progress Seen at Seven Years

Despite the new government’s promises and actions, the results in the case have been unsatisfactory. Families of the missing forty-three and their allies commemorated the seventh anniversary of the forced disappearance this year with street protests and calls for accelerated action by the Mexican government. The families’ principal attorney and spokesperson, Vidulfo Rosales, recognized the government’s efforts but lamented the slow pace of the investigation. In their most recent meeting with President López Obrador, who often speaks with the families and the truth commission, Rosales called for the apprehension of Zerón and an investigation of the military. The military is still widely seen as criminally untouchable despite being among the chief suspects in the case.[17] López Obrador also announced that he had personally requested the extradition of Zerón from Israel, where he is in hiding.[18]

Mexican authorities argue that they are racing against time and still confronting the effects of the previous regime’s cover-up. Gómez Trejo reported that his team continues to develop new lines of inquiry based on informants review of documentation and new forensic evidence. This includes the discovery of additional human remains, some of which — unlike others recovered so far — did not show signs of being burned and have been sent for DNA identification in Innsbruck, Austria, where the remains of three students were previously identified.[19] He also said that new search sites have been identified nearby and that he expects to issue new indictments in the near future. Unfortunately, this has been the prosecutor’s line for some time, and the most recent indictments of two officials in October 2021, for obstruction in the original investigation fall well short of expectations.[20] A public release in September 2021 of near completely redacted testimony by soldiers underscored the continuing lack of meaningful cooperation and transparency in the case.[21]

The Inter-American Human Rights Commission (CIDH) and the UN Human Rights Office in Mexico (UNO-DH) marked the anniversary by recognizing the advances made by the Mexican government but called on authorities to “redouble efforts” in their investigation and accelerate pending demands for information from security forces. The CIDH and UN emphasized that Mexico must still break the “pact of silence” in this case and many others.[22] A few weeks earlier, the Mexican government agreed to extend its cooperation with the GIEI, which now provides technical assistance and guidance to the truth commission and Gómez Trejo’s team.[23]

Mexico Needs More Than a New Narrative on Ayotzinapa

The response to the Ayotzinapa case demonstrated to the Mexican people the power to confront a corrupt and repressive regime that had sought to hide its crimes. With the support of their allies, including human rights defenders and international mechanisms, the families of the missing forty-three refused to yield to the government’s pressure and exposed its attempts at deceiving the world. Ayotzinapa is seen as a “watershed” event in recent human rights defense. The movement forced the old government to retreat and secured the new government’s backing for the families’ cause.

Still, frustration with the lack of progress over the past three years and the continued impunity of presumed perpetrators in the Mexican military and elsewhere in government threaten those achievements. The López Obrador government devoted much of its time and energy to proving the falseness of its predecessor’s case, but with very little to show in terms of actually identifying and bringing to justice those who committed these awful acts. Time is not on Mexico’s side. Not only has vital evidence been lost, but at least twenty-one significant figures connected with the case have since died due to assassination, natural causes, and, in the case of one drug kingpin this year, COVID-19.[26]

The operation on the students’ disappearance involved so many figures, including scores of law enforcement officials, that it is difficult to accept that the federal government has been unable to get an individual to share the real story, whether under pressure or in exchange for immunity. Undoubtedly, López Obrador’s apparent deference to the military, which resists access to its facilities and records, has been a major obstacle.

Ayotzinapa stands as a symbol of the pandemic of forced disappearances in Mexico that is worsening each year, with the total number of cases now topping 100,000.[27] Demonstrating political will to confront the Mexican military and organized cartels in this case — even if the full picture never becomes clear — could signal that López Obrador’s call for national transformation is not empty rhetoric. Instead of advancing the engagement for justice set in motion by civil society’s response to Ayotzinapa, López Obrador — by making promises he cannot keep — may end up deepening the cynicism and distrust prevalent in Mexican society. 

Next Steps

López Obrador currently enjoys relatively high approval ratings and a close relationship with the Mexican military as he approaches a self-initiated recall referendum in March 2022. He may not want to risk taking dramatic measures in advance of that vote, but strong action on Ayotzinapa – with a renewed popular mandate in hand – could demonstrate his commitment to be a truly transformational leader. Such steps, with implications well beyond this case, include:

• Asserting presidential authority to force the military to cooperate fully with the prosecutors, insisting on access to witnesses, records, and Army facilities in Iguala.

• Either fully empowering the Ayotzinapa prosecutors to investigate and charge the military or establishing a special investigation of the military that coordinates with Gómez Trejo and reports directly to the President. So far, military officers have been mostly immune from investigation, let alone prosecution.[28]

• Ensuring that the Ayotzinapa investigation has all the resources it needs in terms of staff, technical capabilities, including critical improvements in the country’s forensics capacity and better incentives for witness cooperation and protection.

• Finally, aligning positive, reassuring rhetoric with concrete action, quickening the slow pace of the investigation, the location and identification of remains, and the arrests of suspected perpetrators of the crimes.

López Obrador needs to produce results and establish the real facts of what happened seven years ago, and not simply repudiate the cover-up of his predecessor. Nothing less than his political legacy and the future direction of Mexican civil society is at stake.

About the Author

Olivia Mozdzierz is an M.A. candidate in History at Yale University, where she is focusing on human rights and international relations.  She previously worked for the National Security Archive, an NGO and research center dedicated to government transparency and public access to information.  She holds a bachelor’s degree in human rights and history from Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.

Endnotes

1. Much of the background analytical content of this article is drawn from the author’s undergraduate senior thesis: Olivia Mozdzierz, “Hasta Que Haya Justicia: Responses to the 2014 Forced Disappearance of the Students of Ayotzinapa, Mexico,” Bard College Senior Projects Fall 2020, https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_f2020/32.

2. Stephanie Brewer, “Militarized Mexico: A Lost War That Has Not Brought Peace,” WOLA, May 12, 2021, https://www.wola.org/analysis/militarized-mexico-a-lost-war/; Francisco Goldman, “Mexico’s Missing Forty-Three: One Year, many Lies, and a Theory that Might Make Sense,” The New Yorker, September 30, 2015, https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/mexicos-missing-forty-three-one-year-many-lies-and-a-theory-that-might-make-sense.

3. Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI), Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Ayotzinapa Report: Investigation and Initial Conclusions (I), Summary (Mexico City: OAS, 2015),

http://media.wix.com/ugd/3a9f6f_e1df5a84680a4a8a969bd45453da1e31.pdf.

4. Anabel Hernández, A Massacre in Mexico: The True Story Behind the Missing Forty-Three Students (London: Verso, 2020).

5. Francisco Goldman, “The Missing Forty-Three: The Government’s Case Collapses,” The New Yorker, June 8, 2015, https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-missing-forty-three-the-governments-case-collapses.

6. Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI), Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Informe Ayotzinapa (I): Investigación y primeras conclusiones de las desapariciones y homocidios de los normalistas de Ayotzinapa (Mexico City: OAS, 2015), https://www.oas.org/es/cidh/actividades/giei/giei-informeayotzinapa1.pdf.

7. Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI), Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Informe Ayotzinapa II: Avances y nuevas conclusiones sobre la investigación, búsqueda y atención a las victímas (Mexico City: OAS, 2016), http://www.oas.org/es/cidh/actividades/giei/GIEI-InformeAyotzinapa2.pdf.

8. John Gibler, I Couldn’t Even Imagine That They Would Kill Us: An Oral History of the Attacks Against the Students of Ayotzinapa (San Francisco: City Lights Books, 2017).

9. Francisco Goldman, “Crisis in Mexico: Could Forty-Three Missing Students Spark a Revolution?,” The New Yorker, October 30, 2014, https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/crisis-mexico-forty-three-missing-students-spark-revolution.

10. Azam Ahmed, “Disappearance of 43 Mexican Students Must be Investigated Anew, The New York Times, June 5, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/05/world/americas/mexico-43-missing-students-investigation.html.

11. Ibid.

12. Gloria Diaz and Arturo Rodríguez, “López Obrador formaliza comisión para la verdad y justicia del caso Ayotzinapa,” Proceso, December 3, 2018, https://www.proceso.com.mx/nacional/2018/12/3/lopez-obrador-formaliza-comision-para-la-verdad-justicia-del-caso-ayotzinapa-216529.html.

13. Human Rights Watch, World Report 2020, Mexico, https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2020/country-chapters/mexico; Government of Mexico, Boletín No. 305/2020: Se aprueba Protocol Homologado para la Búsqueda de Personas Desaparecidas y No Localizadas, August 27, 2020, https://www.gob.mx/segob/prensa/se-aprueba-protocolo-homologado-para-la-busqueda-de-personas-desaparecidas-y-no-localizadas.

14. David Vicenteño, “Designan a Omar Gómez Trejo como fiscal para el caso Ayotzinapa,” Excelsior, June 27, 2019, https://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/designan-a-omar-gomez-trejo-como-fiscal-para-el-caso-ayotzinapa/1321028.

15. Hernández, p. 235.

16. Maureen Meyer and Moses Ngong, “Six Years After Ayotzinapa Disappearances, Mexico’s Government Must Build on its Efforts to Provide Truth and Justice,” wola.org, September 24, 2020, https://www.wola.org/amalysis/6-years-ayotzinapa/.

17. Jorge Monroy and Maritza Pérez, “Ven padres de los 43 normalistas avances mínimos,” El Economista, September 27, 2021, https://www.eleconomista.com.mx/politica/Ven-padres-de-los-43-normalistas-avances-minimos-20210927-0007.html.

18. Emmanuel Carrillo, “AMLO gestiona personalmente extradición de Tomás Zerón, dicen padres,” Forbes, September 24, 2021, https://www.forbes.com.mx/amlo-gestiona-personalmente-extradicion-de-tomas-zeron-dicen-padres/.

19. Por Redacción (editors), “Ahora el tiempo juega contra las evidencias do los 43 normalistas,” El Proceso, September 27, 2021, https://www.proceso.com.mx/reportajes/2021/9/27/ahora-el-tiempo-juega-contra-las-evidencias-de-los-43-normalistas-272805.html.

20. Pablo Ferri, “Un juez procesa a dos peritos por el presunto montaje del río Dan Juan en el ‘caso Ayotzinapa,’” El Pais, October 14, 2021, https://elpais.com/mexico/2021-10-14/un-juez-procesa-a-dos-peritos-por-el-presunto-montaje-del-rio-san-juan-en-el-caso-ayotzinapa.html.

21. “Señalan a la FGR por ocultar las declaraciones de los militares,” Vanguardia, September 28, 2021, https://vanguardia.com.mx/noticias/nacional/senalan-a-la-fgr-por-ocultar-las-declaraciones-de-los-militares-DE886522.

22. Manuel Espino, “CIDH y ONU en México piden redoblar esfuerzos en caso Ayotzinapa,” El Universal, September 24, 2021, https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/nacion/caso-ayotzinapa-cidh-y-onu-en-mexico-piden-redoblar-esfuerzos.

23. Liliana Padilla, “Gobierno federal acuerda dar continuidad a trabajos del GIEI en caso Ayotzinapa,” Milenio, September 6, 2021, https://www.milenio.com/politica/gobierno-mexico-acuerda-continuidad-giei-caso-ayotzinapa.

24. Manu Ureste, “7 años de Ayotzinapa: ‘Para el gobierno hay avances, pero los familiares seguimos sin respuestas de los 43,’” Animal Político, September 26, 2021, https://www.animalpolitico.com/2021/09/ayotzinapa-siete-anos-sin-respuestas/

25. Ibid.

26. Enrique Sánchez, “Muere por covid ‘El Sapo Guapo,’ líder de Guerreros Unidos y vinculado al caso Ayotzinapa,” Excelsior, July 26, 2021, https://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/muere-por-covid-el-sapo-guapo-lider-de-guerreros-unidos-y-vinculado-al-caso-ayotzinapa.

27. David Lopez, “In Mexico, Nearly 100,000 People Are Missing,” The New York Times, October 3, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/10/03/world/americas/mexico-missing-people.html?searchResultPosition=1.

28. Most notably in the case of General Salvador Cienfuegos, who received a full exoneration from López Obrador this year following his detention by the U.S. on drugs trafficking charges – and who was also the defense minister who blocked cooperation on the Ayotzinapa case in 2014; see Oscar Lopez, “Mexico Exonerates Ex-Defense Chief Who Was Freed by U.S.,” The New York Times, January 14, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/15/world/americas/mexico-defense-minister-cienfuegos.html.