Authorities in Mexico were accused on Monday (March 28) by an international group of independent experts of blocking the investigation into the disappearance of 43 students in 2014, a case which had attracted international media attention in a country which counts nearly of 100,000 missing.
Read alsoZacatecas, pearl of baroque Mexico crushed by the cartel war
Mexican institutions
"pretend"
to facilitate the investigation, according to Angela Buitrago, of the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI), without naming the institutions in question.
The GIEI presented Monday its third report on the disappearance of 43 students from Ayotzinapa in September 2014 in the state of Guerrero (west) known for its seaside resort Acapulco and the violence attributed to drug trafficking.
Only three bodies have been identified so far.
According to the
"historical truth"
of former President Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018), the young people were arrested and delivered by police to drug traffickers of the Guerreros unidos cartel.
The students were reportedly mistaken for members of a rival gang.
After being shot, their remains were cremated and thrown into a landfill, according to this version disputed from the start by families, GIEI experts and the UN.
"There are still institutions that do not deliver"
all the documents necessary for the investigation, said Angela Buitrago, of the GIEI created in November 2014 following an agreement with the Mexican state to clarify the facts.
Another member of the GIEI, Claudia Paz, indicated that the investigators did not have access to the reports of the secret services that the group requested.
Read alsoCartels sow fear in the state of Zacatecas, in the heart of Mexico
On the night of the disappearance, local and federal authorities knew
"what was going on at the time of the students' arrest and subsequent disappearance
," she added, noting that such information was not shared.
On the day of the events, dozens of students were heading towards the city of Iguala where they wanted to demonstrate.
In total Mexico has some 100,000 missing, most since former President Felipe Calderon declared total war on drug traffickers in 2006. The United Nations Committee against Enforced Disappearances is due to report on this in April, after a mission to Mexico in November.
