International
Experts cast doubt on inquiry into Mexico’s missing students
| By AFP |
Independent experts investigating the disappearance of 43 Mexican students in 2014 raised concerns on Monday about apparent inconsistencies in an official inquiry into the tragedy, which shocked the nation.
In August, a truth commission tasked by the government to investigate the atrocity branded it a “state crime” and said that the military shared responsibility, either directly or through negligence.
The Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) questioned the credibility of purported WhatsApp messages presented by the commission as apparent evidence of collusion between criminals and authorities.
“It’s not possible to guarantee the authenticity of the messages,” which were shared as screen shots, a member of the group, Francisco Cox, told reporters.
The GIEI, created in 2014 under an agreement between Mexico and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, expressed concern that the government was trying “to speed up the results” without a full investigation.
The experts noted that some of the messages purportedly sent before the students disappeared had two blue ticks indicating they had been read — a feature only later introduced by WhatsApp.
Last week, the truth commission’s head, deputy interior minister Alejandro Encinas, said that of 154 screen shots, 99 were consistent with other evidence and 55 were not.
The teaching students had commandeered buses in the southern state of Guerrero to travel to a demonstration in Mexico City before they went missing.
Investigators believe that they were detained by corrupt police and handed over to a drug cartel that mistook them for members of a rival gang, but exactly what happened to them is unclear.
One theory put forward by the truth commission is that cartel members targeted the students because they had unknowingly taken a bus with drugs hidden inside.
An official report presented in 2015 by the government of then-president Enrique Pena Nieto concluded that cartel members killed the students and incinerated their remains at a garbage dump.
Those findings, which did not attribute any responsibility to members of the armed forces, were rejected by relatives and independent experts.
So far, the remains of only three victims have been identified.
Prosecutors announced in August that arrest warrants had been issued for more than 80 suspects, including military personnel and police officers, but so far only a handful of them have been detained.
International
Bolsonaro diagnosed with skin cancer amid coup conviction
Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has been diagnosed with skin cancer while serving a historic sentence for attempting a coup d’état. His medical team confirmed that the lesions have been removed and that, for now, he does not require further procedures, though he will need regular monitoring.
On Wednesday, September 17, Bolsonaro’s doctors confirmed the diagnosis. The announcement comes shortly after the former leader was convicted of orchestrating an attempted coup.
According to his physician, Claudio Birolini, Bolsonaro has “squamous cell carcinoma, which is neither the most benign nor the most aggressive form — it is intermediate.” Birolini warned, however, that this type of skin cancer “can carry more serious consequences.”
International
Milei praises Paraguay’s growth, calls Argentina’s last 20 years a ‘decline’
Argentine President Javier Milei praised Paraguay’s economic growth over the past two decades during a speech before the Paraguayan Congress on Wednesday (Sept. 17, 2025), crediting it to incentives that favored capitalism. At the same time, he contrasted that progress with what he described as Argentina’s deepening “decline” during the same period.
“If we compare the last 20 years of Paraguay with those of the Argentine Republic, we will find almost diametrically opposite results,” Milei told lawmakers during a special session of Parliament on the second and final day of his official visit to Asunción.
“While you have not stopped growing, we have deepened our decline. If we understand incentives as the engine of capitalism, Paraguay focused on preserving and strengthening them, while Argentina dedicated itself to chaining, directing, and suffocating them,” the right-wing leader stated.
International
Trump administration launches large-scale immigration operation in Chicago
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump intensified a large-scale immigration operation in the Chicago area with the arrival of additional Border Patrol agents on Tuesday and the presence of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem during a raid.
Noem posted a video on her X account showing the immigration operation, in which DHS reportedly removed “violent criminals” from the streets. The footage shows Noem observing the arrest of a man taken into custody at his home early Tuesday morning at an undisclosed location.
“I was in Chicago today to make it clear that we will not back down,” the secretary wrote. “Our work is just beginning,” she added.
The warning from Noem was echoed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Chief Gregory Bovino, who posted a video on X Tuesday showing multiple Border Patrol vehicles arriving in the city with the caption: “Chicago, we are here!”
Bovino, who led the immigration crackdown in Los Angeles implemented since last June, said the team will remain in Chicago to continue the mission they started in California.
Operation “Midway Blitz” is currently focused on the Chicago metropolitan area and its suburbs. Activists and residents have reported sightings of masked agents and unmarked vehicles in predominantly Latino neighborhoods.
Bolsonaro diagnosed with skin cancer amid coup conviction
Milei praises Paraguay’s growth, calls Argentina’s last 20 years a ‘decline’
Trump administration launches large-scale immigration operation in Chicago
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
Extension of the state of emergency approved in southern Chile
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