Mexico City (Mexico), 7 Aug. (LaPresse/AP) – Mexican authorities have arrested Ángel Aguirre, the former governor of the southern state of Guerrero, for his alleged involvement in the disappearance of 43 students in 2014. Aguirre is accused of “concealing evidence that could have helped determine the students’ whereabouts” from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ Training College. Aguirre governed the state of Guerrero from 2011 until his resignation in October 2014, one month after the students’ disappearance. According to the Mexican authorities, a cartel from the city of Iguala, in the state of Guerrero, attacked the students in collusion with the security forces and with local, state and federal authorities, including the army. The officials are alleged to have been involved either by participating in the crime or by covering it up. Ernestina Godoy, Mexico’s Attorney General, stated that two testimonies gathered this year indicate that Aguirre not only asked officials to hand over the security camera footage from one of the locations of the attack that night, but also ordered the destruction of any evidence relating to the events. “The Attorney General’s Office has evidence showing that this order to conceal the evidence was issued directly by the then governor, with the involvement of high-ranking state officials,” she said. “Far from being an isolated incident or a technical oversight, the concealment of the recordings was the result of a malicious operation, deliberately orchestrated by the highest levels of the state executive.”
Mexico: Former governor arrested in connection with the disappearance of 43 students 12 years ago
Mexico City (Mexico), 7 Aug. (LaPresse/AP) – Mexican authorities have arrested Ángel Aguirre, the former governor of the southern state of Guerrero, for his alleged involvement in the disappearance of 43 students in 2014. Aguirre is accused of “concealing evidence that could have helped determine the students’ whereabouts” from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ Training College. Aguirre governed the state of Guerrero from 2011 until his resignation in October 2014, one month after the students’ disappearance. According to the Mexican authorities, a cartel from the city of Iguala, in the state of Guerrero, attacked the students in collusion with the security forces and with local, state and federal authorities, including the army. The officials are alleged to have been involved either by participating in the crime or by covering it up. Ernestina Godoy, Mexico’s Attorney General, stated that two testimonies gathered this year indicate that Aguirre not only asked officials to hand over the security camera footage from one of the locations of the attack that night, but also ordered the destruction of any evidence relating to the events. “The Attorney General’s Office has evidence showing that this order to conceal the evidence was issued directly by the then governor, with the involvement of high-ranking state officials,” she said. “Far from being an isolated incident or a technical oversight, the concealment of the recordings was the result of a malicious operation, deliberately orchestrated by the highest levels of the state executive.”