News / Mexico

Investigators denied access to Mexico military staff in 43 students’ case

Tuesday, 18 August 2015 10:14 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 18 August 2015 10:14 AM ]

Alejandro Valencia (L), Francisco Cox (2nd-L), Claudia Paz (2nd-R) and Carlos Beristain (R), experts of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) are seen during a conference in Mexico City, August 17, 2015.

Activists with an international human rights group say the Mexican government has not allowed them to carry out interviews with military personnel over the case of 43 students who went missing last year.

Regional activists from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) said on Monday that they were not granted permission to interview with military soldiers who may have witnessed the disappearance of the students.

The activists said they were only allowed to question the military personnel from the 27th infantry battalion in the southwestern city of Iguala through a written questionnaire, an option they rejected.

The group, which is part of the Organization of American States, also said security videos containing alleged evidence may have already been destroyed. It did not explain, however, the nature of the alleged evidence.

According to the IACHR, this is the first time they have not been allowed to carry out interviews over the disappearance and most likely killing of the students since they began their investigation in March.

The Mexican Interior and Defense Ministries have not yet commented on the matter.

The relatives and friends of the 43 missing students from Ayotzinapa hold their portraits in Mexico City, March 26, 2015. (© AFP)

The students were reportedly detained by corrupt police while they were on a bus in the state of Guerrero’s Iguala city last September.

The Guerreros Unidos drug cartel has confessed to killing and burning the remains of the students after receiving them from gang-linked police forces.

Last week, the body of activist Miguel Angel Jimenez, who had been leading an investigation into the students’ fate, was found in Xaltianguis.

Mexico has been experiencing a rise in drug-related violence in recent years, with official estimates showing that more than 35,000 people are currently missing in the country.

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