The first few days – he recalls – he saw a stunned, upset government, unsure of what steps to take, where to go, or what they had.
Polarization reached the social movement. Spokespeople and lawyers, who during a decadeto have accompanied the Parents of the 43 students who disappeared on September 26, 2014, They arrive at this tenth anniversary with the same demand, that of the return of the studentsbut with two clear visions of the movement and how to fight for the truth.
Vidulfo Rosales, lawyer of the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Center, recalls A decade marching with the parents of the 43 from the first day with the students of the normal school.
In an interview, he said that the case became “bogged down” when it was necessary to determine who was responsible for the Mexican Army.
Today, he trusts that President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum will have “the challenge of solving it,” so that this case is not a ‘Halconazo’, ’68’, or ‘Aguas Blancas’.
On the other side of the fight, there is Philip of the Cross, who left the countryside to become an activist, father of a survivor from the night of Iguala.
He was kept out of the spotlight when he distanced himself from his parents for his political aspirations, and recently reappeared with another group of relatives.
He says that President López Obrador’s administration has made progress in the investigation, and highlights arrests such as that of Jesús Murillo Karam:
“The protest -he says MILLENNIUM– It happens when the doors of the institution are closed, they don’t attend to you, they repress you, actions are required, but right now they receive us.”
“The President could not solve it, Claudia has the challenge, and if not, it will be more of the same” to be carried out, and warns: “It was we who gave guidelines, especially in terms of search, and the case was then referred to the Attorney General’s Office (formerly PGR).”
Vidulfo Rosales appeared in the plot from the first day. It was he who helped the parents who barely spoke Spanish in the first few hours to explain what was happening, who put together the first file together with other civil society organizations to file a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office so that they wouldn’t close the case. His insistence on the case started the investigations.
“We remember back in 2016-2017 the demand from mothers and fathers to resume the four lines of investigation, one related to the Mexican Army, drug trafficking from Iguala to Chicago, cell phone trafficking and the Federal Police, those were the lines that were in place.
“The whole struggle from October 2014 to 2018 was that: to keep the case open and show that the investigation by that government had been a lie, and finally it was achieved,” he recalls.
—How was the relationship with the 4T?—
“In the first years there was good will, there were concrete actions. Not without difficulties, but the case was moving forward, however in 2022 the case hit a snag, when the investigation began to advance and to establish responsibilities in the Mexican Army… there… it got bogged down.”
—What did they agree with Claudia Sheinbau?—
“It was a cold meeting, we have our reservations. The interesting thing is that she told us that she will draw up with us a new route, a new strategy on how to proceed with the case. That is important for us and we are taking it up again. We will wait for her government and the administration to arrive to see how we move forward.”
“I believe that this government has an obligation, a moral and political obligation to resolve the case. They have to mark a before and after.”
—What about the involvement of organized crime?—
“Organized crime was a key player in the disappearance… Organized crime is not an entity dissociated from the State, it is an entity closely linked to institutions and the Ayotzinapa case is an example of this. Today we cannot say that there is organized crime on one side and the State on the other.”
—Is the Ayotzinapa case on track to become a ‘Colosio case’ or a ‘Halconazo’?—
“Indeed, impunity in the ‘Colosio case’, ’68’, ‘June 10’ and in Guerrero, there was a series of massacres, we can count as six massacres; ‘Aguas Blancas’, ‘El Charco’, ‘Yanky Kothan’ in March…”
“There are a number of grievances that this government, which calls itself left-wing and progressive, has set aside. It has ignored the issue of human rights and I think that the issue of the 43 is an issue for them. The President was unable to resolve it, Claudia has the challenge of resolving it, and if not, it will be more of the same.”
“Open doors in state and federal government”
Felipe remembers that he did not sleep that night. He was one of the first to find out. He received a call from his son:
“They already killed one… We came to Iguala and the Municipal Police are shooting at us,” he said, and hung up.
From that moment on, he dedicated himself to demanding a voice for parents. and today he is the spokesperson for the collective Truth and Justice of the 43, a group that says it is made up of 14 parents and relatives.
He bluntly points out his differences with the other parents’ organization, his relationship with the Normal School of Tixtla, and criticizes their way of demonstrating.
“The protest takes place when the doors of the institution are closed, they don’t serve you, they repress you, actions are required, but right now -he says- they receive us, we want a meeting. The doors are open in the state and federal government… where does the protest come from? Why the protest?”
“They came to burn the monument, it is a sign of society’s weariness because it was none other than the people of Chilpancingo themselves, a sign that there are enough riots.”
“I agreed at the beginning because it was the right time; we had a repressive government but today the doors are open,” he insists.
The break with the other group of parents -he recalls- began after a mobilization in favor of José Luis Abarca, which was attended by several of them, continued with the offer of a candidacy for Morena, which ultimately did not prosper, and by the way of demanding answers.
“They marginalize us, there is no information, they don’t represent us, we don’t deserve anything even though we have the same rights… We separated, we don’t recognize the lawyers and we formed the collective Truth and Justice for the 43. There are 14 families that are on this side right now, out of the 40 that remain, because three have already died, there are family members but the parents have already died.”
Regarding the relationship with the outgoing administration, he says, “President López Obrador imposed himself; from the moment he created a special prosecutor’s office for the case, from the moment there was a special commission for the case, but we also found ourselves, and we cannot deny this, with a rotten judiciary that did not allow the truth to be given to find the whereabouts of the young people.”
And makes a difference between six-year terms:
“During Enrique Peña Nieto’s administration, (he says), we had to fight, confront police, riot police, tear gas.”
“This government does not experience all of that, there are differences… we do not want to focus only on the bad side, there are also good sides.”
With the President-elect, he says “we already had the first meeting” and he is confident that “a method will be found that will allow us to move forward towards the truth.”
