Parents of missing Mexican students push for answers from López Obrador and Sheinbaum

Claudia Sheinbaum made history when she became the first woman and the first person of Jewish heritage to be elected president of Mexico. Among other things, she promised to keep the country on a path toward reform and justice.

But for the parents of 43 college students who were abducted in 2014, her promise will not be fulfilled until the Mexican government provides more answers and accountability from the military and law enforcement.

“When we meet her, we’ll make the same demand that we have already made to the current president,” Clemente Rodríguez, whose son, Christian Alfonso Rodríguez Telumbre, is one of the missing students, said by phone in Spanish from Mexico. “First, to get to the truth, we need access to the 800 pages of military records that have been requested.”

On Sept. 26, 2014, 43 male students from a teacher’s college in Ayotzinapa, in the state of Guerrero, were abducted as they were on a bus to a protest in Mexico City.

The Mexican government initially tried to close the investigation, concluding that local authorities had colluded with drug traffickers in the murder and incineration of the students.

But a group of independent technical investigators helped to reopen the case after they exposed how testimonies were obtained by using torture.

After an initial cover-up, in 2022 a government truth commission found that local, state and federal authorities had been involved, finding that “obvious collusion existed between agents of the Mexican state with the criminal group Guerreros Unidos that tolerated, allowed and participated in events of violence and disappearance of the students, as well as the government’s attempt to hide the truth about the events.”

Almost a decade later, the remains of three students have been identified via DNA; the others have never been found.

The parents have collectively asked outgoing Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to hand over military records, which they believe have key information about the disappearance of their sons. 

Specifically, Rodríguez says he wants more information on the findings of previous investigations, like that a soldier had infiltrated the students and was with them.

They also want to know what other information those documents have about the military’s involvement in the cover-up.

The truth commission listed numerous government officials as having participated in the initial government cover-up that aimed to close the investigation, including Omar García Harfuch, who at the time was the commissioner of the federal police in Guerrero.

In 2021, López Obrador confirmed that a witness had implicated soldiers in the students’ disappearance. That same witness had said that military officials and police had taken bribes from Guerreros Unidos and implicated García Harfuch, who “categorically denied” the allegations, saying he had nothing to hide.

García Harfuch would later serve as Mexico City’s police chief during Sheinbaum’s tenure as mayor. And on June 11, he joined the president-elect in a meeting with a U.S. delegation to discuss strategies for security.

“We have always asked for an investigation ever since his name became known,” Antonio Tizapa, father of the missing student Jorge Antonio Tizapa Legideño, said in a phone interview from New York. “And now, with this new government about to come in, what role is he going to play?”

In 2022, Jesús Murrillo Karam, Mexico’s former attorney general, was arrested and accused of covering up the likely massacre of the students.

Mexican authorities have also accused Tomás Zerón, the former director of Mexico’s Criminal Investigation Agency, of the same charges. Zerón has taken refuge in Israel.

Now, the parents have another meeting planned with López Obrador for July 3, according to the families. And while they hope to get answers before Sheinbaum takes office in October, they say they’re also prepared to continue fighting for their sons.

“Our movement is not a political movement,” Mario González, the father of César Manuel González Hernández, said in a phone interview from Mexico. “Our movement is autonomous, it’s about the fight for life. I think many people would do the same thing as us. Any parent would do the same thing that we are doing for their son or daughter.”

June 26 marked 117 months since the abduction of the 43 students.

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