IACHR Experts to Close Inquiry Into Disappearance of 43 Ayotzinapa Students Deutsche Welle
go to original April 16, 2016

New evidence revealed this week suggested federal police agents may be implicated in the students' disappearance. (Zuma Press)

The group of experts probing the 2014 disappearance of 43 students in Mexico's southwestern Guerrero state will end their investigation at the end of April. Mexico's government has opted not to renew their mandate.

The head of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) said Friday that the investigators were forced to cease their mission, despite unanswered questions about the fate of the students.

The IACHR "deeply regrets that the Mexican state has expressed its position not to extend the mandate of the group of experts and to end the agreement, even though the objectives - primarily, locating the missing students - have not yet been met," said IACHR chief James Cavallaro.

The independent investigators are expected to present their findings on April 24.

The 43 students from a teacher-training college disappeared in the city of Iguala on September 26, 2014. Mexican authorities allege the students were detained by local police who handed them over to a drug cartel. Members of the gang then allegedly killed the students and incinerated their bodies at a rubbish dump in the nearby town of Cocula.

However, that version of events has been rejected by both the IACHR group of experts and another investigative body that analyzed the dump site. To date, the remains of only one of the students have been positively identified by burned bone fragments.

The Mexican government's own inquiry into the students' disappearance has been heavily criticized by both the victims' families and the IACHR.

Read the rest at Deutsche Welle

Related: Rights Commission Eyes New Entity on Missing Mexico Students (Associated Press)

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