September 26th, 2017, marked three years since the extrajudicial executions of six people and the forced disappearance of 43 students from the “Raul Isidro Burgos” Normal Rural School of Ayotzinapa in Iguala, Guerrero. In this context, there was a mass and a silent march in which the fathers, mothers and companions of the student teachers participated, leaving from the Angel of Independence to the Antimonumento +43 in Mexico City. Thousands of others also marched in Chihuahua, Guerrero, Jalisco, Michoacan and Chiapas, among other states, to demand that impunity end in this case.

Abel Barrera Hernandez of La Montaña Human Rights Center greeted the parents of the 43, remembering that they have spent “three years removing the debris that the holders of the PGR piled up with hundreds of files to fabricate its historical truth. With great perversity the government broadcast on television how they shredded our children. They preferred morbidity to scientific evidence.” He also stressed that although there is evidence of the Army’s participation in the disappearance of the 43, “the authorities, instead of guaranteeing an impartial investigation, close ranks to prevent progress in this line [of investigation].”

The National Commission for Human Rights (CNDH in its Spanish acronym) demanded that the investigations into the disappearance of the 43 students should consider all aspects based on objective and scientific elements and should not be ended. Meanwhile, Amnesty International Mexico warned: “For three years, we continue to look for our disappeared among the debris of corrupt institutions and the crime of oblivion, where the real political will of the authorities has never been present. The historical lie of this case will mark Peña Nieto’s six-year term, but we, in solidarity with their fathers and mothers, will continue to count them, continue to seek them, fight to bring the truth to light and have access to justice.”

For more information in Spanish:

Tres años de impunidad: Los 43 de Ayotzinapa (Telesur, 26 de septiembre de 2017)

Fundidos en un abrazo en medio del dolor (La Jornada, 26 de septiembre de 2017)

Padres de los 43 alistan marcha silenciosa a tres años de Ayotzinapa (Proceso, 26 de septiembre de 2017)

Víctimas del desastre: del dolor a los enfrentamientos con autoridades (Aristegui Noticias, 25 de septiembre de 2017)

Foto-reportaje de la marcha silenciosa (Regeneración Radio, 26 de septiembre de 2017)

A casi 3 años, protestan en 27 Batallón por Ayotzinapa (La Jornada, 23 de septiembre de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: plataforma Ayotzinapa: una cartografía de la violencia (19 de septiembre de 2017)

Guerrero: tercera visita del mecanismo de seguimiento de la CIDH sobre le caso Ayotzinapa a casi tres años de los hechos (7 de septiembre)

Guerrero: a 34 meses de la tragedia de Ayotzinapa familiares convocan a unas jornadas de lucha (31 de julio de 2017)