Mexico City, Mexico – In an apparent attempt to breathe life into the case of the 43 students who disappeared 10 years ago, the government of Mexico’s Guerrero state launched a media campaign and announced a reward for any new information leading to the whereabouts of the students or their killers. their suspects.
Students from Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers College, who were traveling by bus to Mexico City on September 26, 2014, were forcibly abducted as the bus traveled through Iguala, Guerrero. High-ranking members of the security forces and a local drug cartel allegedly killed the male students and burned their bodies, according to investigators.
Mexico has acknowledged their disappearance was a “state crime” but has yet to prosecute any senior military or government officials, and a nine-year independent investigation that ended last year accused the Mexican government of obstructing investigations.
Read more: Investigation into 43 missing Mexico students ends, commission accuses government of stonewalling
Guerrero’s “Break the Silence” campaign includes nationwide media outreach and a 10,000,000 pesos (about US$515,000) reward for anyone providing new information about the whereabouts of the 43 youths.
Through her X account, Governor Evelyn Salgado Pineda said the initiative comes after a meeting held between state officials and the families of the 43 student teachers, also known as “normalistas,” because of the college’s name in Spanish.
“We are confident that this will provide new data,” the governor said. “The purpose of this campaign is to expand and strengthen the search for normalists and at the same time continue to seek the cooperation of citizens to find their location.
(Governor Salgado Pineda’s father has been accused of ties to drug cartels, but not to the Guerreros Unidos cartel, which is implicated in the students’ disappearance.)
According to a press release distributed by the Guerrero government, the campaign will include digital and print media, social media, radio and television, as well as placing billboards with photos of students at various points on the main connecting highway. Mexico City with Acapulco, the largest tourist destination in the state.
Regarding the radio and television spots, they will show the testimonies of the mothers of the 43 missing students, calling on citizens to “break the silence” and report if they have information leading to the whereabouts of their sons.
Governor Salgado Pineda, a member of the ruling MORENA political party, launched her initiative amid an almost total breakdown of dialogue between the students’ families and the federal government.
In March, protesters stormed the presidential palace to demand that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador act on the case, and the parents have demanded that Mexico release hundreds of military files related to the disappearance.
Read more: Mexican protesters storm presidential palace, pressure President López Obrador to act on Ayotzinapa case
With less than two weeks left in office, President López Obrador appears to have fallen short of his campaign promise to solve the case and bring justice to the families of the missing students. The parents of the missing accuse the president of protecting military leaders.
“You, Mr. President, have lied, deceived and betrayed us,” said a family statement published in July. “You looked us in the eye and gave your word during the campaign that you would solve this crime against humanity, giving us the long-awaited truth and justice that every human being has a right to know: the whereabouts of their missing loved ones. .”
