Mexico: Families of missing students demand proof after 'mass murder confession'
- 10 years ago
Small bags of unidentified human remains could signal the end to the mystery of Mexico’s missing students.
The government seems to think so, announcing the grim find and reporting that three suspected gang members have confessed to mass murder.
But without firm evidence of identification, the families of the 43 trainee teachers won’t accept their loved ones are dead.
Authorities say three suspects admitted killing and incinerating the students, saying they had been handed over to them by police.
Unidentified remains were found at a river close to the southern town of Iguala where they disappeared six weeks ago.
But the students’ relatives, critical of the investigation, want proof.
At a news conference, Gisela, the mother of one student, said that the Attorney General himself had said that there is no certainty over the remains.
“We want an outcome but with proof. Only when we, as parents, are sure that what the Attorney General is saying is the truth, only then will we accept it,” she said.
DNA testing by experts in Austria will be difficult, the government admits, but Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto says justice will be done.
“To the parents, relatives and colleagues of the students, I reiterate my solidarity and the total support of my administration,” he said.
“The investigations will be carried out whatever the consequences. All the guilty will be punished under the rule of law.”
On Tuesday, police captured Iguala’s fugitive former mayor Jose Luis Abarca and his wife Maria de los Angeles Pineda, who are suspected of being the masterminds behind the abduction.
Over 70 other people have also been arrested over the disappearance of the students who had clashed with police. Officers are among those detained.
The government seems to think so, announcing the grim find and reporting that three suspected gang members have confessed to mass murder.
But without firm evidence of identification, the families of the 43 trainee teachers won’t accept their loved ones are dead.
Authorities say three suspects admitted killing and incinerating the students, saying they had been handed over to them by police.
Unidentified remains were found at a river close to the southern town of Iguala where they disappeared six weeks ago.
But the students’ relatives, critical of the investigation, want proof.
At a news conference, Gisela, the mother of one student, said that the Attorney General himself had said that there is no certainty over the remains.
“We want an outcome but with proof. Only when we, as parents, are sure that what the Attorney General is saying is the truth, only then will we accept it,” she said.
DNA testing by experts in Austria will be difficult, the government admits, but Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto says justice will be done.
“To the parents, relatives and colleagues of the students, I reiterate my solidarity and the total support of my administration,” he said.
“The investigations will be carried out whatever the consequences. All the guilty will be punished under the rule of law.”
On Tuesday, police captured Iguala’s fugitive former mayor Jose Luis Abarca and his wife Maria de los Angeles Pineda, who are suspected of being the masterminds behind the abduction.
Over 70 other people have also been arrested over the disappearance of the students who had clashed with police. Officers are among those detained.