Mexico City — A former investigative director for Mexico’s attorney general’s office told officials investigating the disappearance of 43 students in 2014 that the so-called “historical truth” presented to the public weeks after the events was a narrative crafted by top government officials during meetings attended by then-President Enrique Peña Nieto, a Mexican news outlet reported Monday.
Tomás Zerón, a fugitive from justice who is currently in Israel and out of reach of Mexican law enforcement authorities, told investigators that the then president and members of his security cabinet were present, the independent journalism collective Fábrica de Periodismo reported.
The media outlet reproduced Zerón’s responses to a lengthy interrogation sent to him by the country’s top human rights official, Alejandro Encinas, in 2022, which was released following an access to information request.
The “historical truth” version claimed that local police handed the students over to a local drug cartel in the city of Iguala. The criminal group allegedly killed the students, incinerated their bodies in a landfill in the nearby community of Cocula and then dumped the remains in a river.
Subsequent investigations by independent experts and the Attorney General’s Office, and corroborated by the Truth Commission established to follow up on the case, have dismissed the idea that the bodies were burned at the dump.
It was concluded that a local drug trafficking group was involved, but the Truth Commission believes that corrupt elements of the armed forces and police at all levels were also involved.
Encinas had previously referred to high-level meetings between officials to discuss the version of the “historical truth,” but without identifying those present.
According to Zerón, the president, his security cabinet and former Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam, who is credited with the term “historical truth” to explain the disappearance of the students and who is under house arrest awaiting trial, attended the meetings. Peña Nieto currently resides in Spain.
Zerón, who is accused of torture and forced disappearance, did not provide any details about Peña Nieto’s participation, saying only that he was present at the meetings.
Encinas, who resigned from his post last year, has said he offered Zerón a deal in exchange for his cooperation in the investigation.
Asked about the case, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Zerón should turn himself in. He added that it would be very helpful if he returned to the country to give a statement and assume responsibility.
López Obrador is scheduled to meet with relatives of the missing students on Tuesday, which would be his last meeting before leaving office at the end of September.
Relatives of missing students held their monthly march on Monday to demand justice in the streets of the Mexican capital.
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