Mass grave found in Mexico raising fears it could hold bodies of missing students
If the newly discovered burial site holds the remains of the 43 students missing after a confrontation with police last weekend, this would be the nation's worst known massacre since President Pe帽a Nieto took office.
If the newly discovered burial site holds the remains of the 43 students missing after a confrontation with police last weekend, this would be the nation's worst known massacre since President Pe帽a Nieto took office.
A mass grave discovered about 120 miles outside Mexico City has raised fears that it could hold some of the 43 Mexican students missing since deadly clashes with police last week. If confirmed, this would be Mexico鈥檚 worst known massacre since President Enrique Pe帽a Nieto took office in 2012.
Guerrero State Prosecutor Inaky Blanco at a press conference Saturday night wouldn鈥檛 say how many bodies were found in the grave outside the city of Iguala, and cautioned 鈥渋t would be irresponsible鈥� to assume the bodies were those of students missing since Sept. 26 before DNA tests were completed.
The students went missing last week after a confrontation with Iguala municipal police. Depending on the account, the security officials opened fire as the students sought to hijack buses for transportation or as they were collecting donations for their teacher鈥檚 college, reports The New York Times. The Aytozinapa Normal School, attended by the missing students, is known for radical protests that often involve hijacking buses or delivery trucks.
Six people were killed in the confrontation and witnesses say they saw police taking several students away from the scene.聽
Some 22 police officers were detained after the initial confrontation between the police and students, described by Federal Interior Minister Osorio Chong as an 鈥渋ncredible鈥� display of excessive force by security officials. Another聽eight people have been arrested, according to the Associated Press, some of whom have been identified as members of organized crime groups.
鈥淭he most common hypothesis is that [the missing students] are in the power of organized crime groups that work with Iguala鈥檚 municipal police, which is very penetrated by organized crime,鈥� Vidulfo Rosales, a lawyer for a local human rights group, told The Wall Street Journal last week.
Guerrero state, home to Iguala, is one of the poorest and most violent states in Mexico. 鈥淚n Guerrero, you have a mix of narcos, guerrillas, social conflict, and political bosses,鈥� said Alejandro Hope, a Mexico City-based security analyst.
The disappearances 鈥渦nderscore Mexico鈥檚 continuing inability to clean up corrupt local police forces, which officials acknowledge in many areas are in league with the nation鈥檚 powerful organized crime groups,鈥� according to a separate Wall Street Journal report.
Working to improve the quality of police is an ongoing, national challenge, reports Fusion.
"We cannot say anything. We are very nervous, but until they inform us, there is nothing," said father Jesus Lopez, whose 19-year-old son, Giovani, hasn't been seen since the violence last weekend. Mr. Lopez told the AP that a delegation of family and school representatives would go to Iguala today to get information from authorities.
The United Nations has urged Mexican authorities to conduct an "effective and diligent" search for the missing, calling the case "one of the most terrible events of recent times," reports Agence France-Presse.
The discovery of the mass grave comes at a time when Mexico鈥檚 human rights record is already under heightened scrutiny. Members of the military were recently charged with homicide in an apparent coverup of a mass execution in southern Mexico earlier this month. The military initially said that 22 people were killed in a shootout, but later eyewitness reports and examination of forensic evidence implied a brazen execution.