The families of the students held a march 12 years after the disappearance of the 43 young people. With photographs of their children at the front and the cry 'They took them alive, we want them alive!', the relatives started the route at the Angel of Independence monument. They were accompanied by students, social organizations, and collectives who joined the mobilization to demand justice, truth, and progress in the search.
The President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, postponed the presentation of a report on new lines of investigation until Monday. This postponement occurred after a week of protests by the families in front of federal institutions. She reaffirmed the official commitment to the search, justice, and truth regarding the 43 students.
The administration of former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who governed between 2018 and 2024, classified the Ayotzinapa case as a 'state crime.' In early August, Ángel Aguirre, former governor of the state of Guerrero, in southern Mexico, was arrested for alleged involvement in the disappearance of the 43 students.
Federal prosecutors reported that they detained Aguirre under the accusation of 'concealing evidence to determine the whereabouts of the students' from the Ayotzinapa Rural Normal School. The disappearance of the young people, which occurred on September 26, 2014, after taking control of buses heading to a demonstration, caused great shock in Mexico and the international community.
According to Mexican authorities, a cartel in the city of Iguala attacked the students in collaboration with security forces, as well as local, state, and federal authorities, including the armed forces. There is suspicion that the authorities are involved, either by participating in the crime or hiding it.
Even after three administrations, dozens of arrests, and an investigation full of irregularities, crucial questions remain unanswered. Authorities believe the students were murdered, but only bone fragments of three of them were found. The motive for the attack still needs to be clarified, although there is belief that it is linked to heroin trafficking on buses destined for the United States, operated by the local cartel in collusion with the authorities.
The students were the target of coordinated attacks at various points. In one incident, cameras recorded the moment security forces stopped one of the buses near the Palace of Justice, the seat of the courts, but initial official statements denied the existence of these images.