A Mexican judge ordered on Wednesday that former Governor of the southern state of Guerrero Ángel Aguirre be brought to trial for his alleged involvement in the forced disappearance of people in connection with the case of the 43 students from the Ayotzinapa teachers’ college, who went missing in September 2014.
The decision comes six days after Aguirre’s arrest, which shook Mexico’s political establishment and once again brought attention to the case, the most emblematic example of the disappearance crisis that has affected Mexico for decades. To date, more than 134,000 people remain missing.
The former governor, one of the highest-ranking former officials detained in connection with the case, was ordered to stand trial early Wednesday under the theory that he may have concealed “highly relevant” information for the investigations, Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office said in a statement, headed by Ernestina Godoy.
The judge in the case upheld the pretrial detention of the 70-year-old former governor, who will remain incarcerated at the maximum-security federal prison of Altiplano, in the State of Mexico.
Aguirre governed Guerrero from 2011 until October 2014, one month after the crime occurred in the city of Iguala between September 26 and 27.
Nearly twelve years after the incident, neither the motive for the crime nor the whereabouts of the students are clear, although the burned remains of three of the young men were found. Authorities presume that all of them were murdered by members of a local cartel involved in heroin trafficking that acted in collusion with security forces and local, state and federal authorities, including members of the military.
According to the Mexican Attorney General’s Office, the former governor allegedly participated in concealing videos that could have recorded the events.
During the initial hearing, which lasted more than 14 hours, Aguirre’s defense challenged the allegations made by prosecutors, arguing that the governor at the time was not in Guerrero when he allegedly received the recordings and ordered their destruction, but rather was in Mexico City.
Aguirre, a former member of the Democratic Revolution Party — from which the ruling Morena party emerged — was arrested on August 6 in the State of Mexico by federal officials. His detention came nearly four years after the arrest of former federal prosecutor Jesús Murillo Karam, another high-ranking former official prosecuted in connection with the case.
Murillo Karam, who faces charges of forced disappearance, torture and obstruction of justice in the case of the 43 missing students, was granted house arrest in April 2024 because of his advanced age and health problems. Last month, a judge lifted the measure and ordered him to wear an electronic ankle monitor and comply with mobility restrictions.
“Ayotzinapa Does Not Forgive”: Violent Protest Shakes Military Facility in Mexico’s Capital
On the eve of the 11th anniversary of the disappearance of the 43 students, dozens of hooded protesters led violent demonstrations.
Source: telemundo51
