(CNN Spanish) – 10 years ago the disappearance of 43 students occurred in Mexico and relatives are still waiting for an answer about what happened to the young people. A decade later there is still impunity, unresolved questions and the mark of a historical tragedy. This is what we know about the Ayotzinapa 43.
On the night of September 26, 2014, a contingent of students from Ayotzinapa went to Iguala, in the state of Guerrero. The objective was to temporarily retain buses from transport companies in order to use them to attend the commemoration of the student massacre of October 2, 1968 in Mexico City. The students left at 9 pm in two groups (one with two buses and another with three) and a short time later they were chased and attacked by municipal police of Iguala, assisted by other security forces and other unaffiliated citizens.
The attack left a tragic balance of 43 normalistas—students of bachelor’s degrees in Education—who are still missing to this day. They were taken away in several vans, some belonging to municipal police. That was the last time they saw them. In addition to the disappearance, six people were murdered at the scene, including three normal students; at least 40 people were injured; and hundreds more victims were registered, both direct and indirect, according to the report from the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Center (Centro Prodh).
While the first official version from the authorities—the so-called “historical truth” presented in November 2014—said that the students were murdered, the six reports presented by the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) since 2015 showed that this version was built based on illegalities and lies. The investigation of the case, therefore, continues to date and has not provided conclusive results.
10 years of doubts: The struggle of the Ayotzinapa normal school persists
The Mexican Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador has said that the disappearance of the 43 young people was “a State crime”, in which members of the Guerreros Unidos criminal group “and agents of various institutions of the Mexican State” participated.
In 2023, the then Undersecretary of Human Rights, Population and Migration of the Ministry of the Interior, Alejandro Encinas, noted that municipal, state and federal authorities “were aware of the mobilization of the students” since their departure from the Isidro Burgos Normal School in Iguala. until his disappearance.
Although there have been some arrests, such as those of the alleged head of the Guerreros Unidos criminal group Gildardo López Astudillo and José Luis Abarca, former mayor of the municipality of Iguala, both were acquitted. Eight soldiers—of the 16 detained in 2023—were released in January 2024 while the proceedings against them for forced disappearance continue. The truth is that a decade later no one has been convicted in this case.
With information from Uriel Blanco, Rey Rodríguez and Natalia Cano
