Statement for Truth and Justice in the Ayotzinapa Case
We demand truth and justice from the Mexican state and government in the Ayotzinapa case!
To the Mexican State and Federal Governments
To National and International Civil Society
To National and International Human Rights Organizations
To the Press
To the Free Media
To the Indigenous Peoples of Mexico and the World
On July 20, 2024, the Mexican government released the document that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had given to the parents of the students who disappeared on September 26, 2014, in Iguala, Guerrero. In this document, the president emphasized that “absolutely nothing” had been found regarding the direct involvement of members of the army in the Iguala massacre. Once again, López Obrador attempted to shift the focus to the actions of those who had “led the demands” for justice. He reiterated his commitment to finding the students and learning “with greater precision what happened, the irrefutable and authentic truth of the events.” This document was a new “historical lie” fabricated by the highest levels of power.
Those familiar with the case pointed out that the presidential report on Ayotzinapa had evaded truth and justice, offering false justifications and making unsubstantiated accusations against the victims' families and advocates. The mothers and fathers of the disappeared students carefully studied the document and, once they had reached a consensus, released their response. Their first point was that they found it extremely confusing, riddled with inconsistencies, and containing numerous disparaging remarks, not only against their lawyers but also against human rights defenders, accusing them of obfuscating the Ayotzinapa case to whitewash the army and conceal the responsibility of high-ranking officials. They accused him of attempting, from his presidential seat and without any real basis, to offer them a summary of speculation and conjecture to justify a campaign promise he failed to keep by the end of his term. They confronted him, telling him he had lied to them, deceived them, and betrayed them. He was not only failing them, but the entire Mexican people and the international community that stood in solidarity with him, who had also naively believed at some point that he would resolve this painful case.
The mothers and fathers of Ayotzinapa insisted that the unjustifiable could not be justified. Numerous testimonies and official statements corroborated that the army was in the streets that day and participated shamefully in the disappearance of their children. This was an irrefutable truth. They were surprised that the president wanted to erase the statements of Alejandro Encinas, then a member of his cabinet and representative of the Truth Commission, who had corroborated the army's active participation, as had the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI). They understood that the report he had given them lacked legal validity, since López Obrador was neither a public prosecutor nor had he ever been an investigator on the case. He was merely sharing his conjectures, which were far removed from the truth. They reminded him that the victim was not the president, but those who had lost children due to the crime of forced disappearance, crimes that, incidentally, had increased like never before in the history of Mexico, as well as the rise of organized crime.
After nearly ten years of struggle, they hadn't missed a single day demanding the safe return of their children and the hundreds of thousands of other missing persons who, unfortunately, are also no longer with us. They told him that history would judge him and place everyone in their rightful place, for the truth is always relentless. They reminded him that their fight is not over, that they neither forgive nor forget, and they reiterated their accusation that the State is responsible.
The researchers who are members of CLACSO Working Group Bodies, Territories, Resistances We believe that the mothers and fathers of Ayotzinapa are right and, therefore:
- We make a national and international appeal to continue supporting the movement of the parents of the Ayotzinapa students in their search for truth and justice and the safe return of their children.
- We demand truth and justice from the Mexican State and government.
For more information see:
Planet Earth
July 25, 2024
CLACSO Working Group
Bodies, territories, resistances
This text expresses the position of the aforementioned Working Group and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.
