Mexico: Attorney General risks curtailing investigation into disappeared students

The announcement by the Mexican Attorney General that all the missing Ayotzinapa students are dead is premature and risks curtailing a full and thorough investigation into this tragedy, said Amnesty International today.

Yesterday Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam announced that he could prove the students were dead, basing his findings mainly on confessions from arrested suspects.

He was unable, however, to show strong evidence of it. Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International, said:

“If the Attorney General hopes that this announcement will draw a line under this tragedy then he is wrong. There are still many, many questions left unanswered, including the possible complicity, by action or omission, of the army and other authorities in the attack against these young student teachers.

“I have met with the families and those left behind, I have seen their pain and it is not something that can be swept under the carpet. Mexico’s troubled past when it comes to police investigations is all the more reason for this investigation to continue until there is solid proof of what happened to these young men."

Today Amnesty has sent an open letter to the Attorney General, outlining the organisation’s concerns regarding the investigation so far. Erika Guevara Rosas, is available for interviews in London and Perseo Quiroz, Executive Director Amnesty International Mexico, is available for interviews in Mexico City (both in English and Spanish.)

Possible talking points:

• Flaws in the investigation over the disappearance of the Ayotzinapa students.
• Demands from families of the Ayotzinapa students.
• Amnesty International’s letter to Mexico’s Attorney General.
• Widespread use of torture to extract confessions.