Arrest of Mexican Army general ordered in case of missing students

Mexican prosecutors have obtained a warrant for the arrest of an army general and 15 other soldiers in connection with the 2014 disappearance of 43 students, a crime considered one of the worst atrocities in the country’s recent history.

It is widely believed that the students were massacred in Central Mexico after a night of violence in the city of Iguala, when police officers accused of collaborating with the area’s criminal cartel forced them off buses, shot some of them, and took the rest away. Authorities have only identified the remains of three students.

Investigations by the government’s truth commission into the matter and a group of independent experts have said every level of government was involved, including the military, which they said had been closely monitoring the attack on the students in real time, but had not used that information to help to find them.

The general, Rafael Hernández Nieto, was charged with involvement in organized crime and the soldiers were charged with organized crime and enforced disappearance, according to the judge’s order that issued the warrants, which was reviewed by The New York Times. A former judge, to whom some of the students were taken before they were reportedly handed over to the cartel, was also charged with enforced disappearance.

The development marked some progress in the government’s investigation into the crime, which has suffered a series of setbacks and raised questions about President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s willingness to hold the military accountable for its alleged role.

Prosecutors first obtained arrest warrants for General Nieto and 19 other soldiers last August, but then, in an abrupt reversal, asked a judge to revoke most of them about three weeks later, citing “flawed evidence” in their own case. Four members of the army were arrested, including a general, but the rest remained free.

The chief prosecutor in the case quit soon after. Two of the four independent experts investigating the matter also resigned. Mr López Obrador defended the decision at the time, saying that “the investigation continues and there is no impunity.”

César González, a lawyer representing the soldiers, said Wednesday the government’s case against his clients was weak, criticizing the attorney general for relying on the testimony of cartel members.

The attorney general’s office, Mr. González said, “manipulates at will the statements of members of organized crime to try to lend a little more support to a case that is falling apart.”

Santiago Aguirre, the lead lawyer representing the families of the missing students, said the government has solid evidence against the soldiers and the original warrants were only canceled due to political pressure.

“The president directly informed the families that the accusation of such a large number of soldiers had angered the army,” Mr Aguirre said in an interview, describing a meeting between the families of the students and Mr López Obrador in September . “And that caused Attorney General Alejandro Gertz to order his people to suspend some of the arrest warrants.”

The victims’ parents continued to demand the arrest of more soldiers, Mr Aguirre said, and the remaining independent experts said they would only continue their work on the case if the warrants were issued again.

“It was a requirement for us to continue our work because there was evidence to support the arrest warrants and the decision to withdraw them was arbitrary,” said Carlos Beristain, one of the experts. “An investigation should be made on the basis of evidence, not pressure.”

Mr López Obrador has given the armed forces sweeping new powers and has consistently supported them despite criticism that he is paving the way for the emergence of a military state.

Still, the disappearance of the 43 students has become a political sore spot for the president, who made solving the case one of his most pressing priorities after taking office in 2018, but has struggled to make consistent progress.

After the Attorney General handed the case over to a prosecutor with little experience last fall, concerns grew about Mr López Obrador’s commitment to building a solid criminal case against all involved, which may include more soldiers.

“This case has demonstrated the power of the military and its insubordination to civilian authorities,” said Catalina Pérez Correa, an expert on the military at Mexico’s Center for Research and Education in Economics.

The new arrest warrants, she said, were “just a first signal of a limit to that power.”

Emiliano Rodriguez Mega contributed reporting from Mexico City.