MEXICO-VIOLENCE/PENA NIETO Pena Nieto willing to meet parents of 43 missing after release of damning report

Record ID: 141703

  • Title: MEXICO-VIOLENCE/PENA NIETO Pena Nieto willing to meet parents of 43 missing after release of damning report
  • Date: 7th September 2015
  • Summary: ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** RELATIVES HOLDING POSTERS WITH PHOTOS OF MISSING STUDENTS VARIOUS OF FAMILY MEMBERS AT RELEASE OF REPORT VARIOUS OF RELATIVES OF MISSING STUDENTS WITH OFFICIALS FROM THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS FOR THE HANDOVER OF THE REPORT VARIOUS OF RELATIVES OF MISSING STUDENTS WITH OFFICIALS FROM THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS POSING FOR MEDIA
  • Embargoed: 22nd September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA98EUSYROHU22V1LU99VABF13G
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced on Monday (September 07) that he would be willing to meet with the parents of 43 students who went missing in an apparent massacre last year, following the release of a report which dismissed Mexico's official version of events.
    Commissioned by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and conducted by respected investigators from Chile, Colombia, Guatemala and Spain, the report blasts holes in the Mexican government's central claim that the students were burned to ashes in the nearby town of Cocula.
    The case provoked a global outcry after the missing students were abducted in the city of Iguala in southwest Mexico on September 26, 2014.
    As the report threatens to blow up renewed criticism of the government over the case, Pena Nieto told a government event in Puebla that he will be open to meeting with parents of the missing.
    "I am absolutely willing to meet again with the parents with all the experts from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. I reiterate my constant and permanent willingness to be close to the parents of the victims and support them permanently," he said.
    The government's failure to capture the killers or even persuade Mexicans that its investigation was serious has hit President Enrique Pena Nieto's reputation, and the report on Sunday (September 06) was certain to pile more pressure on.
    The Mexican president said he was keen to get to the truth of what happened to the missing students.
    "Because there is a broad willingness from the government of the republic to know what happened in Iguala and Cocula. And that all the investigative work will allow us to reach the truth of these unfortunate events," added Pena Nieto.
    The parents of the victims welcomed the report, and vowed not to let up on the government until their children are found, adding their faith is with the independent experts and they no longer trusted official investigators.
    Mexico Attorney General Arely Gomez announced after the report's release she would seek a new probe to ascertain whether the missing students were in fact burned in the dump, adding that the government will extend the stay of the independent experts so they can keep investigating.
    So far, only one of the missing students has been identified from the badly charred remains found at the dump.
    Pena Nieto's government says the students were abducted by corrupt local police, working in league with a local drug gang, who confused the students with members of a rival cartel.
    In their report, the experts suggested the missing bus may have been carrying a shipment of cash or drugs, citing the fact that prosecutors in Chicago found that the Guerreros Unidos cartel transports heroin from Iguala to the United States in secret bus compartments.
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