海角大神

Nearly four months since the headline-grabbing disappearance of 43 college students in southern Mexico, the victims鈥� families are still searching for answers.

So far, the DNA of only one student 鈥� 21-year-old Alexander Mora 鈥� has been confirmed. The Austrian lab working to help identify the pulverized remains said Tuesday. The attorney general asked scientists at the Innsbruck Medical University to retest the remains, which could take an additional three months.

顿别蝉辫颈迟别听government pledges to hold聽the perpetrators of this grisly crime accountable, progress has been glacial. But the case isn't likely to fade from public attention: victims' families say they聽won鈥檛 rest until they have concrete proof of their deaths; and scientists have challenged the government's narrative based on聽testimony from imprisoned gang members.聽

The 43 students at a teacher's college went missing on Sept. 26 in Iguala, a city in the southern state of Guerrero. According to the government, the students were kidnapped by police officers and handed off to a criminal gang 鈥� allegedly on the orders of the town鈥檚 mayor, who is now in police custody. The students were allegedly killed, and their bodies burned at a nearby dump.聽The Mexican government had to reach out to specialists to try to identify the remains.

The subsequent search for the students turned up dozens of unrelated clandestine graves around Iguala, highlighting the lawlessness of the impoverished region. About 100 people have been arrested in connection to the case, including Felipe Rodr铆guez Salgado, an聽alleged gang hit man arrested last week.

The Austrian lab results have fueled聽speculation over whether the government鈥檚 account of events is true 鈥� and given some relatives hope that their missing loved one could still be alive. The lack of DNA evidence 鈥渕akes us believe even less in what the government is saying,鈥� Epifanio Alvaraz, the father of 19-year-old missing student Jorge Alvarez, told Bloomberg News.

Families of the victims have聽 to Army barracks to search for any proof that their children may have been there. The government said last Friday that families could enter an Army base in Iguala.聽Federal prosecutor Tomas Zeron said earlier this month that there is no evidence troops were involved.聽

鈥淲e are not accusing the Army, they are responsible,鈥� the families鈥� lawyer, Vidulfo Rosales, said after the Iguala base announcement. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a legal obligation by the public ministry to investigate whether there鈥檚 any truth to鈥� rumors that soldiers may have played a role in the events.聽

Scientific skepticism

It鈥檚 not just the victims' families that are skeptical. Two Mexican scientists have published a report聽challenging the government鈥檚 account of events, and specifically how the bodies were allegedly destroyed in a mass cremation. According to a report by McClatchy News:

The attorney general said two gang members had confessed to taking part in the incineration, which they said took more than 15 hours.

鈥淭hey assigned guards in shifts to make sure the fire lasted for hours, throwing diesel, gasoline, tires, wood and plastic鈥� on the flames, [Attorney General Jesus] Murillo Karam said. He said temperatures had reached up to 2,900 degrees Fahrenheit. In interviews [this month, Jorge] Montemayor and [materials scientist Pablo] Ugalde said the students鈥� bodies聽couldn鈥檛 have been turned to ash and bone fragments聽at the Cocula dump.

鈥淭hey might have cremated 10 people but not 40 or more,鈥� said Montemayor, a physicist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

For one thing, the area where the earth shows evidence of fire is too small: 26 feet across. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a tenth of what they would have needed to burn all the bodies,鈥� Montemayor said.

For another, the amount of fuel needed to generate temperatures higher than 1,400 degrees F for incineration would have been enormous.

鈥淵ou would have needed two trailer beds full of wood,鈥� he said. He added that the area around the dump, at the lower end of a ravine, showed no signs that trees had been felled to feed an enormous fire, or of ashes that a giant fire would have created.

The mass kidnapping and presumed massacre has roiled Mexico, highlighting corruption at all levels of the government and adding to deep-seated beliefs that Mexicans can鈥檛 rely on officials to protect them.

Just over half of Mexicans say their country isn鈥檛 safe, and nearly 40 percent report their neighborhood is affected by gangs, according to the 2014 AmericasBarometer report published by Vanderbilt University.聽Regionally, Mexico has one of the lowest levels of citizen satisfaction with local police.

As 海角大神 reported in December, a sense of citizen insecurity can have聽larger repercussions:

鈥淲hen there鈥檚 less trust in a justice system, it tends to decrease support for the [government] system as a whole,鈥� says Elizabeth Zechmeister, director of LAPOP at Vanderbilt University. 鈥淭he exact consequences will vary across countries, but 鈥� it鈥檚 symptomatic of a system failing to deliver,鈥� she says, adding that citizens may decide to circumvent institutions like the police or courts, as seen in Mexico聽with the rise of vigilante self-defense听驳谤辞耻辫蝉.

The political upheaval in Guerrero 鈥� the state governor resigned in October 鈥� along with general instability and violence has led some to question whether or not the state can hold elections in June. Scores of public schools have been closed since last month , local media report, keeping about 10,000 students of all ages out of the classroom. 聽