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Experts cast doubt on inquiry into Mexico’s missing students

Photo: The New York Times

| 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.

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“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.

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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.

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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

President Boric announces curfew following triple police homicide in Chile

Chile offers residency and Chilean nationality to Nicaraguan opponents

Chilean President Gabriel Boric has implemented a nighttime curfew in three municipalities of the Biobío region following the murder of three police officers. The Chilean leader emphasized that “criminals will answer to Chile and its justice system.”

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Boric stated that he made the decision “after discussing with the General Director of the Carabineros, the Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces, the Head of National Defense, and the Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, having also considered various alternatives and taking into account the needs of the ongoing investigation.”

He further detailed that “I have instructed to decree a curfew in the municipalities of Cañete, Contulmo, and Tirúa from midnight to 7:00 AM. Additionally, police and military presence will be intensified to our utmost capacity with joint patrols in the area.”

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International

President López Obrador meets with Astros and Rockies ahead of Mexico City Series

Last Friday, before the 2024 Mexico City Series between the Astros and Rockies at Alfredo Harp Helú Stadium in Mexico City, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador met with representatives from both teams.

Through his social media, the President shared his interaction with executives from the Houston and Colorado teams, as well as with Astros’ Mexican pitcher, José Urquidy.

“Yesterday (Friday), before starting the tour, I had breakfast with executives and friends from the Houston Astros and the Colorado Rockies. There’s increasingly more baseball fever in our country,” López Obrador wrote.

The photos also featured former Mexican major leaguers Vinicio “Vinny” Castilla and Jorge de la Rosa, both of whom played for the Colorado team.

On Saturday night, the Houston Astros won the first game in the “capital inferno,” home of the Mexico City Red Devils, with a commanding score of 12 to 4.

This Sunday, the second game of the series will take place at AHH, with both teams arriving in Mexico on a losing streak. Another great Major League celebration is anticipated at the “fire diamond.”

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International

Social media star Om Fahad fatally shot in Baghdad

An Iraqi TikToker, previously sentenced to prison last year for posting content deemed “indecent” on social media, was fatally shot in Baghdad on Friday, according to two security officials.

Om Fahad, who had tens of thousands of followers on TikTok and Instagram, gained fame for her videos featuring her in tight outfits dancing to Iraqi music, in a country that is predominantly conservative and patriarchal.

The young woman was shot by an assailant on a motorcycle while she was in her vehicle outside her home in central Baghdad, two security officials reported anonymously to AFP.

In February 2023, a court initially sentenced Om Fahad to six months in jail for “publishing various videos with indecent intentions that violate modesty and public morals.”

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