After Ayotzinapa: All Souls

This week is the final chapter of our three-part investigation into the abduction of 43 Mexican students in 2014. Reveal’s Anayansi Diaz-Cortes and our partner Kate Doyle have been dissecting the Mexican government’s cover-up of the investigation into the disappeared. 

In this latest episode, they look at how an unexpected turn in Mexico’s politics led to a new investigation. But parents of the missing students are still waiting for answers. Diaz-Cortes and Doyle visit Cristi Bautista, the mother of one of the missing students. Seven years after her son Benjamin disappeared, she continues to pray that she will one day know the truth about what happened to him. 

With the election of Andrés Manuel López Obrador as president, Mexico’s investigation into the missing students was reopened. Human rights lawyer Omar Gómez Trejo not only has the grisly task of gathering evidence at the scene of the crime – collecting pieces of bone that can be traced to missing students – but also gathering evidence to indict members of the previous government for covering up what really happened.

Investigating this cover-up put Gómez Trejo’s life at risk. As he dug into the truth, a horrifying video surfaced, making it clear what lengths the perpetrators will go to in order to cover up what happened: a local teacher handcuffed to a chair and tortured into falsely confessing that he was involved in the crime. Despite the danger, Gómez Trejo hopes that this year, the families will finally learn who was behind the attack and what happened to their missing loved ones.   

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Meet the Artist Behind the Ayotzinapa Artwork

Each episode of After Ayotzinapa features an evocative original illustration by artist Dante Aguilera, who lives in Culiacán, Mexico. For Aguilera, creating the art for After Ayotzinapa was emotional. For years, he has collaborated on art projects with families whose children have disappeared. Since 2006, over 90,000 people have disappeared in Mexico, often as a result of violence related to the drug trade.  

How did you feel about being involved in this project?

For me, it has always been a contrast of emotions working on these difficult topics. One part of me feels that it’s very important that this kind of journalistic work exists, and I’m proud to be able to be part of it. The other feeling is more powerful: I wish it didn’t have to exist, that it was not necessary to make these drawings and that the students and the tens of thousands of other disappeared Mexicans were still safe in their homes.  

What emotions were you processing while making these illustrations?  

The emotional process is always heavy. I have spent more than 10 years making art by hand with social movements in my city and country. Since 2018, I have collaborated with collectives of mothers with disappeared children here in Sinaloa. Sadness and pain is something that you have to learn to survive, to embrace the feeling and try to transform it. Art has always helped me do that.  

What feelings did you try to capture in your illustrations for this series? 

What I wanted to convey with this series of illustrations is that behind such a dark event, there is always a counter movement full of hope and dignity, a rebellious dignity, that slowly advances, like a tortoise. I wanted to convey the dignity with the deep and direct looks of the protagonists and hope with the colors, beginning the series at night and ending in the day, in light and vivid colors.  

See Dante Aguilera’s illustrations for the After Ayotzinapa series here. You can also follow him on Instagram: @el_dante_aguilera. 

Washington Post Responds to Reveal’s ‘Searing’ Investigation

In December, Reveal and WAMU/DCist published an investigation into what happened when police in Washington, D.C., tried to fire 24 current officers for criminal offenses. Disciplinary records, which had never been made public before, showed that in all but three of those cases, a powerful internal panel blocked the termination and instead issued much lighter punishment. Those officers were accused of domestic violence, DUIs, indecent exposure, sexual solicitation, stalking and more. In several instances, they fled the scenes of their crimes.

In a recent editorial, The Washington Post editorial board called Reveal’s investigation a “searing account that raises questions about what interests are being served.” The editorial called on the D.C. Council to examine how discipline is dispensed and ensure that officers who shouldn’t be on the streets aren’t allowed to stay on duty:

It was heartening to see internal affairs detectives rigorously investigate allegations of officer misconduct. But why were their recommendations seemingly ignored? Was it because, as some have suggested, the panels are not impartial – that panel members might have worked with officers in question or have their own particular views on what is a fireable offense?

Look for an audio version of our investigation soon on the Reveal podcast.