MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico said on Sunday that mounting evidence and initial DNA tests confirmed that 43 trai...
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico said
on Sunday that mounting evidence
and initial DNA tests confirmed that
43 trainee teachers abducted by
corrupt police 10 weeks ago were
incinerated at a garbage dump by
drug gang members, although forensic
experts sounded a note of caution.
Attorney General Jesus Murillo
confirmed that one of the students
had been identified by experts in
Austria from a bone fragment in a
bag of ash and bits of burned tire
found in a river where drug gang
members said they tossed the
students' remains.
"This scientific proof confirms that
the remains found at the scene
coincide with the evidence of the
investigation," Murillo said. "We will
continue with the probe until all the
guilty have been arrested."
However, Argentine forensic experts
helping to identify the remains
stressed there was still insufficient
physical or scientific evidence linking
the remains found dumped in a river
to the site of the suspected massacre,
a garbage dump in Cocula.
"The evidence linking both sites is so
far essentially based on witness
testimony," the Argentine Forensic
Anthropology Team (EAAF) said in a
statement, stressing it was not
present when the identified remains
were found.
"The search for the missing should
continue."
President Enrique Pena Nieto is
facing his deepest crisis over his
government's handling of the probe.
The case laid bare Mexico's deep
problem of impunity and corruption
and it has overshadowed his efforts
to focus attention on economic
reforms.
Speaking at a conference in Veracruz
on Sunday, Pena Nieto sent his
condolences to the parents of
Alexander Mora, the student whose
remains have been identified.
A month ago, Murillo said drug gang
members had confessed to murdering
the students and burning their bodies
in a pyre of tires at an isolated
dump.
During the search for the students in
the state of Guerrero, dozens more
bodies were discovered in mass graves.
More than 100,000 people have been
killed in Mexico in gang-related
violence since 2007.
"There is a lot of rage, but it is not
just this case," said political science
student Jimena Rodriguez at the
Saturday night march. "There are so
many missing, and they do not have
the least interest in really
investigating."
on Sunday that mounting evidence
and initial DNA tests confirmed that
43 trainee teachers abducted by
corrupt police 10 weeks ago were
incinerated at a garbage dump by
drug gang members, although forensic
experts sounded a note of caution.
Attorney General Jesus Murillo
confirmed that one of the students
had been identified by experts in
Austria from a bone fragment in a
bag of ash and bits of burned tire
found in a river where drug gang
members said they tossed the
students' remains.
"This scientific proof confirms that
the remains found at the scene
coincide with the evidence of the
investigation," Murillo said. "We will
continue with the probe until all the
guilty have been arrested."
However, Argentine forensic experts
helping to identify the remains
stressed there was still insufficient
physical or scientific evidence linking
the remains found dumped in a river
to the site of the suspected massacre,
a garbage dump in Cocula.
"The evidence linking both sites is so
far essentially based on witness
testimony," the Argentine Forensic
Anthropology Team (EAAF) said in a
statement, stressing it was not
present when the identified remains
were found.
"The search for the missing should
continue."
President Enrique Pena Nieto is
facing his deepest crisis over his
government's handling of the probe.
The case laid bare Mexico's deep
problem of impunity and corruption
and it has overshadowed his efforts
to focus attention on economic
reforms.
Speaking at a conference in Veracruz
on Sunday, Pena Nieto sent his
condolences to the parents of
Alexander Mora, the student whose
remains have been identified.
A month ago, Murillo said drug gang
members had confessed to murdering
the students and burning their bodies
in a pyre of tires at an isolated
dump.
During the search for the students in
the state of Guerrero, dozens more
bodies were discovered in mass graves.
More than 100,000 people have been
killed in Mexico in gang-related
violence since 2007.
"There is a lot of rage, but it is not
just this case," said political science
student Jimena Rodriguez at the
Saturday night march. "There are so
many missing, and they do not have
the least interest in really
investigating."
COMMENTS