Mexico is reopening the investigation into last year’s disappearance of 43 students in the state of Guerrero.
An international panel of experts had said the investigation was flawed.
The students’ families have disputed the government’s account of what happened in September 2014.
The Mexican government says that police in the town of Iguala handed the students over to a drugs cartel who killed them and incinerated the bodies.
The panel of experts, working for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, criticized the government’s version of events.
It concluded that the government’s account that the students were burnt beyond identification at a rubbish dump was physically impossible.
The panel said official reports appeared to downplay the presence of federal police and troops near the areas where the students were seized.
The experts said the army had refused to allow them to interview soldiers.
They came up with a list of 10 recommendations which the Mexican government has agreed to abide by.
Among them, the search for the students will be re-launched following outlines laid down by the experts and carried out in coordination with the victims’ families.
The experts also want the report they published to form part of the government investigation – following up recommendations and evaluating issues that arose from the report.
Mexico’s Attorney General Arely Gomez Gonzalez has released the files on the 2014 disappearance of 43 student teachers who clashed with the police.
Arely Gomez Gonzalez released more than 80 volumes of material.
The missing students case has prompted protests across Mexico, increasing pressure on President Enrique Pena Nieto.
Relatives dispute his government’s account that police in Guerrero state handed the students over to a gang who killed them and burnt the bodies.
Photo AFP
The attorney general’s office said the document had taken around 100 investigators seven months to compile.
However, an international panel of experts said it had found many flaws in the investigation.
It concluded that the Mexican government’s account that the students were incinerated beyond identification at a rubbish dump was physically impossible.
According to the experts, official reports appeared to downplay the presence of federal police and troops near the areas where the students were seized.
The experts said the army had refused to allow them to interview soldiers.
Mexico’s attorney general has said her office has not closed the file and will continue to investigate the case.
Father Gregorio Lopez, who was kidnapped in Mexico’s south-western state of Guerrero on December 22, has been found shot dead, officials say.
The priest’s body was discovered near the city of Ciudad Altamirano.
A group of priests later rallied in the city to condemn the murder.
Father Gregorio Lopez was seized by gunmen from Ciudad Altamirano’s seminary, where he taught. The reason for the killing remains unclear.
A friend of the priest told local media that Gregorio Lopez was kidnapped after he accused drug gang Guerreros Unidos of the abduction and alleged murder of 43 students in September.
He is the third priest to be killed this year in Guerrero state, which has been at the centre of drug-related violence in Mexico.
Last month, forensic experts identified the body of a Ugandan Catholic priest among the remains found in a mass grave. Father John Ssenyondo had been missing since being kidnapped in April.
The grave was located by federal police looking for the missing students.
On December 26, demonstrators in several Mexican cities commemorated the disappearance of the students on September 26 – exactly three months ago.
Police in the town of Iguala allegedly detained them following a clash that left six people dead.
Authorities say the police turned the students over to members of a drug gang who killed them and burned their bodies.
So far, the authorities have only identified the remains of one of the students.
Authorities searching for 43 Mexican students who disappeared after clashing with police in Iguala last month are investigating a suspected mass grave.
Mexico’s attorney general said the testimony of two arrested members of a drug gang had led them to the site.
He said police officers had confessed to handing the students over to the drugs gang in southern Guerrero state.
The disappearance has shocked Mexico and has sparked nationwide demonstrations.
Earlier this month, another mass grave was found, but DNA tests suggest the bodies were not those of the students.
So far, 56 people have been arrested in connection with the disappearance, among them police officers, local officials and alleged members of the drugs gang. The state governor has also resigned over the case.
The students’ disappearance has shocked Mexico and has sparked nationwide demonstrations
Arrest warrants have been issued for the mayor of the town of Iguala, where the abductions took place, his wife and the police chief, all of whom are on the run from the authorities.
The mayor, Jose Luis Abarca, allegedly ordered police to intercept the students to prevent them from interrupting a speech his wife was giving in Iguala.
Eyewitnesses say they saw the students being bundled into police cars after the police shot at buses carrying the students, killing three of them and three other people in nearby vehicles.
The latest grave site is in the town of Cocula, about10 miles from where the students last were seen.
Attorney general Jesus Murillo Karam said that two of the four suspects arrested on October 27 may have provided some valuable information
He said that they had admitted to “having received a large group of people” on the night of September 26, when the 43 students were last seen.
“We have the people who carried out the abduction of these individuals,” Jesus Murillo Karam told reporters.
He said the other two suspects detained on October 27 apparently worked as lookouts for the gang. The suspects have not so far been identified.
The four men arrested are all believed to be members of the group behind the abductions, called Guerreros Unidos (United Warriors).
[youtube 4Jrzs3Xt8w4 650]
