GIEI’s Contribution to the Ayotzinapa Case

By Pedro Izquierdo, Research Associate at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs

On September 26, 2014, 43 college students from the Raul Isidro Burgos School of Ayotzinapa were forcibly taken by the Mexican police and handed over to a nearby drug cartel known as Guerreros Unidos who supposedly killed the students. Since then, the missing students are considered to be presumed dead by the government while families and loved ones reject their statement and continue to frantically search for them and gather information on their possible whereabouts. The evening’s events began after a violent clash had taken place between policemen and students in the city of Iguala, the capital of the Mexican state of Guerrero. Six students and three civilians were later killed during the confrontation before the other 43 students were taken. This incident is considered by the Mexican press and people as one of the worst cases of human rights abuses in the country’s recent political history and has created an attitude of distrust from many Mexican people towards the government and the country’s corrupt judicial institutions. During the aftermath, different independent organizations and foreign actors have carried out various investigations. Among these organizations is the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI), a group commissioned by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

This analysis is part of COHA’s Publication The Washington Report on the Hemisphere (WRH) –   Issue 11, Vol. 36. To access the full version, click here.

The WRH is widely considered to be one of the most respected and reliable publications of its kind. Subscribing to the WRH supports COHA’s mission to promote the expansion of human rights in Latin America, as well as to encourage beneficial U.S. foreign policy towards the region.