A former Mexican attorney general has been arrested and warrants issued for 83 soldiers and army officers for the notorious disappearance of 43 students in 2014.
Jesús Murillo was arrested at his home in Mexico City for enforced disappearance, torture and obstruction of justice in the kidnapping and disappearance of student teachers in the southwestern state of Guerrero.
The attorney general’s office also issued 83 other arrest orders for soldiers, police, Guerrero officials and gang members in connection with the case.
Murillo served as attorney general from 2012 to 2015 under then-president Enrique Peña Nieto, during which he oversaw the much-criticized investigation into the September 26, 2014 disappearance of students from the College of Rural Teachers of Ayotzinapa.
The remains of only three students were recovered and identified, with the case haunting Mexico ever since.
Murillo announced in 2014 that the students were killed and burned in a landfill by a drug gang, but the investigation allegedly resorted to torture, improper arrests and mishandling of evidence, resulting in most suspects to go free.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office in 2018 and vowed to clarify what happened. His administration has tried to arrest another former senior official, Tomas Zeron, since 2020, including asking Israel to extradite him last year.
The attorney general’s office said Murillo cooperated “without resistance.”
It comes a day after top Mexican human rights official Alejandro Encinas called the disappearance a “state crime” with the involvement of local, state and federal officials.
“What happened? An enforced disappearance of the boys that night by government authorities and criminal groups,” Mr Encinas told a news conference.
Mr Encinas said the highest levels of Mr Peña Nieto’s administration orchestrated the cover-up, including altering crime scenes and hiding links between authorities and criminals.
Murillo took up the case in 2014 and called the government’s findings a “historical truth”.
According to this version, a local drug gang mistook the students for members of a rival group before killing them, cremating their bodies in a landfill, then dumping the remains in a river.
However, a panel of international experts punched holes in the story and the United Nations denounced arbitrary detentions and torture during the investigation.
The term “historical truth” has become synonymous with the perception of corruption and impunity under Mr. Peña Nieto.
The lawyer for the parents of the Ayotzinapa students, Vidulfo Rosales, called on the government to make more arrests.
“There is still a long way to go before we can think this case has been resolved,” Rosales told Mexican television.
