With respect to the forced disappearances of the 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers College in September 2014, all of the evidence points to collusion between gangs and authorities from the three levels of government: municipal, state and federal. There’s no room for doubt that these groups actively and notoriously participated in the event.
We are positive that police officers, at least from the Iguala and Cocula municipalities in Guerrero, participated in the horrendous crime. We also know that state police were present during the “operation” to detain the young men. It is equally known that members of the army participated in the bloody and tragic events.
There is also solid evidence that Guerrero’s own governor knew about the tragedy at the same moment in which it was occurring. Gov. Ángel Aguirre Rivero’s responsibility and negligence were so evident that it didn’t take long for him to be removed from the position. And up until the date, almost a year and a half after the criminal acts, the army still refuses to be interrogated and admit that the military officers from battalion 27 were present during the tragic day and have first hand knowledge about the matter.
The additional evidence of the federal government’s negligence, dissimulation and slowness to investigate the occurrence and to sanction the authors and intellectuals behind the barbaric crime should be added to the rest of the evidence that proves that Iguala was a crime committed by the federal government.
But, certainly, this is not surprising. It deals with the habitual behavior to conceal the acts of the people responsible and to provide them with the usual and promised impunity.
The examples of impunity awarded by the government to its agents, when they are ordered to “take charge” of so-called enemies of the state, are abundant. We can say that guaranteed impunity is part of the payment for the crimes committed by those following higher orders. That was the case for Argentinian and Chilean repressors during the Dirty War of the 70’s.
The cases also show that impunity awarded by the government to its henchmen is not monolithic. The historical experiences teach us that there weaknesses always remains when asking for and obtaining justice, or at lease when pointing out those responsible.
There are many known cases of criminals of the federal government who have appeared or remained permanently scarred by a criminal stigma. Augusto Pinochet and Jorge Rafael Videla are more widely known than the horrendous assassins from someone’s own town, who have paid for their crimes with corporal punishment or ignominious punishment.
A similar thing is happening in the case of the forced Iguala-Ayotzinapa disappearances. Up until now, justice has not been present. But we have not forgotten about it either. The unbreakable will in pursuit of justice from parents and friends of the 43 missing students, with the solidarity of many social sectors, allows for hope that impunity will not become stronger.
For now, it is a good sign that the fraudulent version of the story in which federal government was not a direct and active participant in the crime has not become more popular.
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