Families of Mexico's missing students demand removal of investigator

Record ID: 103266

  • Title: Families of Mexico's missing students demand removal of investigator
  • Date: 18th May 2016
  • Summary: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (MAY 17, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FAMILY MEMBERS OF MISSING COMING OUT OF ATTORNEY GENERAL'S HEADQUARTERS HOLDING BANNERS WITH PHOTOS OF MISSING STUDENTS STICKER THAT READS "WE ARE MISSING 43" VARIOUS OF FAMILY MEMBERS CHANTING "THE FIGHT GOES ON" FAMILY MEMBERS OF MISSING AND THEIR SUPPORTERS AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SPOKESPERSON FOR FAMILY OF MISSING STUDENTS, FELIPE DE LA CRUZ, SAYING: "Our demand as parents of the families is for there to be truth, that it gives us confidence. We demand this because it's all about the person who is in charge of the investigation (Tomas Zeron). If he remains, then for us, there will be no confidence in the investigation that will take place." MEDIA AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) LAWYER AT LOCAL HUMAN RIGHTS BODY, SANTIAGO AGUIRRE, SAYING: "What the fathers and mothers have called for today is an explanation of the points of the second report as Vidulfo (lawyer for parents of the missing) has stipulated. They can't go on as if these serious points do not need an explanation." GENERAL VIEW OF PARENTS AND THEIR SUPPORTERS AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) LAWYER FOR PARENTS OF MISSING STUDENTS, VIDULFO ROSALES, SAYING: "A small number of people have been named who could join this mechanism, who can pay us periodic, monthly visits, to the country, who can have meetings with authorities, with the Attorney General, with the Interior Ministry, who can review the file and can follow up on the recommendations."
  • Embargoed: 2nd June 2016 02:31
  • Keywords: Mexico missing students Attorney General Arely Gomez investigation
  • Location: MEXICO CITY, COCULA, IGUALA, GUERRERO, MEXICO
  • City: MEXICO CITY, COCULA, IGUALA, GUERRERO, MEXICO
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0034I77DQB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: AUDIO AS INCOMING
    EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    Parents of Mexico's missing 43 students met with the country's Attorney General on Tuesday (May 17) to push their demands for answers into their loved ones amidst concerns of credibility over continued investigations into feared massacre. A representative for the parents called for a personnel shakeup in the investigation.
    The meeting comes as one of Mexico's top crime fighters, Tomas Zeron, is under investigation over a key incident in the probe, the attorney general's office said last month, adding a twist to a case that has shaken the country.
    The probe into officials including Tomas Zeron, head of the attorney general's criminal investigation agency, was triggered by a report by a panel of experts questioning the circumstances in which a charred bone fragment was discovered in a river.
    The fragment belonged to the only one of the 43 whose remains have been definitively identified, evidence that has sustained the government's version the teachers were murdered by a drug gang, incinerated and dumped into the river.
    Felipe de la Cruz, a spokesperson for the family of the missing students, said parents want the removal of Zeron from investigations.
    "Our demand as parents of the families is for there to be truth, that it gives us confidence. We demand this because it's all about the person who is in charge of the investigation (Tomas Zeron). If he remains, then for us, there will be no confidence in the investigation that will take place," he said.
    The attorney general's office said in a statement an internal disciplinary body would "investigate the actions of the public servants of the institution in these events."
    Responding to criticism, Zeron has said his visit was legal and that he had been accompanied by representatives of the U.N. human rights office. He did not explain why the trip was not officially documented.
    Mexico's U.N. human rights office said it had not accompanied Zeron, saying in a statement it "finds it strange that its presence and role were mentioned in activities of the attorney general's office it never took part in."
    Santiago Aguirre, a lawyer for a local human rights body, called for clarification on the matter.
    "What the fathers and mothers have called for today is an explanation of the points of the second report as Vidulfo (lawyer for parents of the missing) has stipulated. They can't go on as if these serious points do not need an explanation," he declared.
    The panel of experts has picked holes in the government's official account of how the 43 students disappeared in the southwestern city of Iguala in late September 2014.
    Although many questions remain unanswered, the government said the panel's participation in the case has finished, and there have been a number of claims and counterclaims between the two sides over the investigation.
    With confidence in the investigation low, lawyer for the parents of the missing students, Vidulfo Rosales, proposed that independent investigators keep up visits to Mexico to follow up on the progress of the investigation.
    "A small number of people have been named who could join this mechanism, who can pay us periodic, monthly visits, to the country, who can have meetings with authorities, with the Attorney General, with the Interior Ministry, who can review the file and can follow up on the recommendations," he added.
    However, many of the parents are sceptical of positive change in the investigation.
    Zeron is seen as close to President Enrique Pena Nieto and had a lead role in the 2014 capture of Mexico's most wanted drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
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