Investigators Identify the Remains of One More of the 43 Missing Students

"Morogris" for Borderland Beat

Mexican authorities confirmed that the University of Innsbruck in Austria identified the remains of one of the 43 students who disappeared in Guerrero in September 2014. The remains were found in November 2019 and were subject to DNA analysis in Austria.

University investigators confirmed that the bone fragments pertained to student Jhosivani Guerrero de la Cruz.

Vidulfo Rosales, the family attorney, confirmed this announcement after a three hour meeting with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). He also said that the President had new information about the case that was provided by the US following last week's meeting with US Vice President Kamala Harris. However, the details of this part of the investigation were not revealed to the press.

Mass disappearance case

According to Mexican government's version of the story, referred by the former Attorney General's Office (FGR) chief as the Verdad Historica (English: Historical Truth), Guerreros Unidos gang members kidnapped and killed the students in September 2014 after they mistook them for rival gangsters.

The incident started when the students hijacked several buses in the area before a protest, a tradition that had long been practiced by the school and tolerated by the bus companies. As they traveled back from Iguala to Ayotzinapa, where the school is based, they were intercepted by the police. Some of the surviving students claim that the bus drivers had agreed to give them a lift.

The incident quickly devolved into a chaotic night that involved law enforcement and gangsters. After a long standoff with the police, several students were arrested and reportedly handed over to Guerreros Unidos.

Jhosivani's father (middle) protesting in Mexico City. The placards read: Vivos se los llevaron, vivos los queremos (“they were taken alive, we want them back alive”)

By dawn the next morning, 6 students were confirmed dead in Iguala, dozens more were wounded. But 43 more had vanished. The government alleges that the students were killed and their bodies were then disposed in a garbage dump and burned in a large fire.

However, several independent investigations have cast doubts on the official report's findings. Independent investigators said that the investigation was "deeply flawed", starting by the fact that many of the detainees were confirmed to have been tortured to confess.

In addition, they claimed to have satellite images on the day of the students' disappearance that showed there had been no fire that night. Critics say that Jhosivani's remains were found at the rubbish dump in question or planted there by authorities.

Jhosivani's body was found in late November 2019 after investigators received an anonymous call that said that several remains were in a specific spot about a 1 mile (1.6 km) from the garbage dump. It is likely that more remains are found in this location.

Sources: La Jornada; El Economista; Running for Ayotzinapa 43; Borderland Beat archives