“Getting to the truth, as painful as it is and despite the obstacles, is the Mexican government’s commitment to families.” Alexander Encinas
Eighty-three arrest warrants, 20 to soldiers, were issued on August 19 in the government’s effort to prove that the crimes of the night of Iguala were carried out by “the state”. Only four have been completed, against retired general José Rodríguez Pérez and three subordinates, who came forward voluntarily and who say they are going to clear their names. The Attorney General of the Republic has withdrawn 21, 16 against soldiers and five against civilians, but without an agreement with the Special Investigation and Litigation Unit for the Ayotzinapa Case, headed by Omar Trejo García, which reveals a break between it and the FGR. An article in the magazine Proceso reflects the attitude of the members of this unit: it was “a dirty maneuver” by the FGR, says the headline.
Did the FGR really resort to a dirty maneuver to exonerate 21 soldiers and five civilians in order to protect the Mexican state for having perpetrated the Iguala crimes? What we know -because despite the promises of transparency, the report of the Truth Commission had its fundamental parts crossed out- is that the withdrawn arrest warrants were based solely on the testimonies of members of the Guerreros Unidos criminal group, whom the previous investigation attributed the kidnapping and murder of the normalistas. Today’s star witness is Gildardo López Astudillo, El Gil or El Cabo Gil, already released despite having confessed his participation in the crimes and who appears in the testimonies under the name “Juan.” These “collaborating witnesses” have not used their testimonies, as is logical, to incriminate themselves, but to accuse those who arrested them.
One of the withdrawn arrest warrants had been issued against Iñaki Blanco, former Guerrero attorney. El Gil stated that he was on the payroll of Guerreros Unidos. and also from Los Rojos, which is surprising because they were rival groups. According to El Gil, Banco also proposed to carry out an investigation into the events in Iguala that would only touch low-level officials.
The reality, however, contradicts these testimonies. The Guerrero District Attorney under Blanco arrested or consigned all the municipal police officers of Iguala and the mayor himself, José Luis Abarca. Regarding his alleged links with Guerreros Unidos, Blanco and his team obtained and communicated to federal authorities information that was used to carry out actions against that group. The state prosecutor’s office dismantled Los Rojos, to the extent that today they practically do not exist in Guerrero. All the detainees in the Iguala case consigned by the Blanco prosecutor’s office are still under trial for aggravated homicide and in no case has torture been proven.
General Rodríguez Pérez has affirmed in an interview with Jorge Fernández Menéndez that the accusations against him and his subordinates, also the product of El Gil’s testimonies, are false. Undersecretary Encinas publicly accused him of having ordered the murder of six normalistas, but the FGR has not filed charges for these alleged murders. El Gil also accused the general of having links with Guerreros Unidos, but there is no more evidence than this testimony. The military affirms that his troops dealt heavy blows to the organization.
The withdrawal of the 21 arrest warrants does not seem like a “dirty maneuver” by the Prosecutor’s Office. Rather, it suggests an acceptance that the evidence against the defendants was flimsy or false.
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Impunity
Dozens of “borrowed” or stolen buses took Ayotzinapa normalistas and their supporters to Paseo de la Reforma yesterday. Small groups of hooded men vandalized buildings as they marched down the avenue. Impunity continues.
#Withdrawn #orders