Seven years ago, 43 men disappeared.

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Illustration by Dante Aguilera


** New Serial Investigation: After Ayotzinapa
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Seven years ago, 43 men disappeared from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ College in Guerrero, Mexico. The students were taken by armed men in the middle of the night. They were never seen again. Their disappearance sparked mass protests as the 43 became symbols of Mexico’s unchecked human rights abuses.

In a new three-part investigation ([link removed]) that begins today, Reveal’s Anayansi Diaz-Cortes and Kate Doyle of the National Security Archives dig into what happened to the Ayotzinapa students—and how the Mexican government tried to cover up the truth. In recent decades, tens of thousands of people have gone missing in Mexico, and almost no one has been held accountable. The culture of impunity is so ingrained that families often don’t go to police for help, believing they’re either corrupt or too afraid to investigate.

The first episode ([link removed]) of the series features never-before-broadcast voices of survivors who were with the 43 students on the night they were captured. From their stories, we piece together the true story of the attack and learn why families of the missing men long had doubts about the government’s official story.

The show also follows the story of the international experts and their work to untangle a huge government cover-up, and the role of their assistant Omar Gómez Trejo.

For almost three years, Diaz-Cortes and Doyle followed Gómez Trejo, the man tapped by a new Mexican President to prosecute the crime. When the pandemic nixed plans to record in-person interviews with him, Reveal’s reporting team mailed Gómez Trejo a recording kit. Our series creates an intimate portrait of the man in charge of piecing together details about the attack on the students, and bringing to justice those responsible for the crime, and the cover-up.

Diaz-Cortes spent two years investigating this story for Reveal. I talked with her about why she felt it was crucial to dig into this case and the power of sharing it on U.S. radio.

Why did you personally feel like was this an important story for you to report?

When I applied for my job in 2018, I said this is one of the stories I would pitch if I came to Reveal. I'm a Latin American Studies major. I was born in Mexico, I went to college in Mexico. So I wanted to grab gringos by the collar and say, “There's more to Mexico than the U.S.-Mexico border. There's this complexity.” I want to use the power we have in U.S. media to tell stories that can make a difference. It's about using that power to create an impact. We need to understand the relationship between Mexico and the United States more deeply than just, like, “Oh, it's so confusing. I can't think about that.” I had a deep drive to unpack the concept of impunity, and also to truly get Mexican stories and human rights stories on National Public Radio. This is not a niche thing. It should be airing alongside daily news in the United States.

What do you want listeners to really take away from this story?

I want people to be outraged. Every editor that we would take this to would say, “Why is this important to a U.S. audience?” After the story airs, I want it to be clear why it's important to a U.S. audience. I want us to see our own power as Americans on this side of the border to hold people accountable and to take a moment to understand and unpack a very complicated story.

I also want people to understand the stamina, organization and intelligence of the families of the disappeared men, who were able to see the global connection. They understand that impunity can only happen if the world is not looking. If the world doesn't care. So, they got the world to look. And because the world saw, the UN stepped in. That only happened because of their vision.

This has been a massive story in Mexico, but I think you’re right that it's not seen as important in the U.S.

This goes beyond Mexican borders. They're 43 missing students in a sea of 90,000 people who have disappeared in Mexico. Most of them since the new era of the War on Drugs started in 2006. This is the case where like all the issues cross, and this is the case that blew open the number of people who have disappeared. Until these 43, the government was like, “That's not even happening. That's not a thing.” This case blew the top off that. So it's almost like, if we can't solve this case, what does it mean for the whole 90,000?

Listen to episode one: After Ayotzinapa Chapter 1: The Missing 43 ([link removed])

Episode two of the investigation will debut next Saturday, January 22.


The truth won’t reveal itself. Help us deliver the stories that make a difference. Donate today.
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Learn more about our investigation, Handcuffed and Unhoused, on Instagram @RevealNews ([link removed])


** New video: A Groundbreaking Human Rights Decision
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In the world’s first criminal case over state-led torture in Syria, former colonel Anwar Raslan was found guilty this week of overseeing mass torture from 2008 through 2012, at the start of Syria’s ongoing civil war. It marked the first time in history that a high-ranking officer of a government that was still in power was convicted of crimes against humanity. We collaborated with PBS NewHour on this look into what was at stake in the precedent-setting trial. Reporter Luna Watfa and special correspondent Adithya Sambamurthy delve into how Raslan was tried in Germany under the legal principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows countries to prosecute war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity, even if the accused is not one of their citizens and the crimes were not committed on their soil.

Watch the video at Reveal ([link removed]) .


** Say Hi to Our New CEO and Editor-in-Chief
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In case you missed our big news: Kaizar Campwala has been named CEO of the Center for Investigative Reporting and Sumi Aggarwal was appointed as editor-in-chief. Aggarwal had been serving as interim editor-in-chief since March 2021. She’s a veteran journalist who spent nearly a decade producing award-winning investigations for “60 Minutes,” launched the broadcast journalism program at the City College of New York and led executive communications for the Search and Maps teams at Google. Campwala joins CIR from the Walt Disney Co., where he oversaw ABC News’ digital and streaming news businesses, including ABC News Live, and expanded the news vertical on Hulu.
Read more about the new team ([link removed]) .
This newsletter is written by Sarah Mirk. Drop her a line (mailto:[email protected]?subject=weekly%20reveal%20feedback) with feedback and ideas!

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