Dear John,
As we approach the eighth anniversary of the Ayotzinapa disappearances—in which Mexican security forces and criminal actors forcibly disappeared 43 teaching students in Iguala, Guerrero—Mexican authorities have taken high-profile actions in the search for truth and justice, including the arrest of a former Attorney General, as evidence accumulates against the armed forces. You can read more in my recent
commentary about these developments.
Paradoxically, at the same time, the president continues to deepen militarization as his government’s security model, with his current proposal to the Mexican Congress to transfer the National Guard to full military control and his recent announcement that he wants military deployment in policing tasks to continue
after 2024. López Obrador justifies
increasing militarization by stating, among other things, that militarization is a way to avoid corruption. However, the advances in the investigation of the Ayotzinapa case show that the participation of military forces in no way constituted a guarantee against violence or human rights violations.
The Ayotzinapa case is part of a disappearance crisis that has surpassed
100,000 victims in Mexico, showing the urgent need to implement the General Law against disappearances and take decisive steps towards ending a crisis that should not exist. Like our
recent campaign against disappearances in Mexico
emphasized, dramatically improving investigations of disappearance crimes is not just a pressing human rights issue and an obligation to victims: it is also a way to address larger networks of violence in Mexico.
We continue to express our solidarity and support to all of the families of the disappeared in Mexico and call on authorities to take concrete, measurable steps to ensure access to truth and justice.
Best,
