Mexico detains 17 suspects in Ayotzinapa case — CBS News
Mexico has detained 17 new suspects in the case of the disappearance of 43 students from the rural university in Ayotzinapa, where they were training to become teachers. According to CBS News World, the arrests followed a new analysis of phone calls made on the night the young people disappeared.
The students were traveling from Guerrero state to a protest in Mexico City on September 26, 2014, when police stopped them in the city of Iguala. Investigators believe the officers handed the young people over to a local cartel. In 2024, the alleged leader of the Guerreros Unidos cartel was detained in the case.
New investigation data
Special prosecutor Mauricio Pasarán said the analysis revealed contacts between government officials, police officers, people linked to organized criminal groups, and civilians. According to him, one of the new witnesses directly participated in the events but was a minor at the time.
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The minor was detained in April. According to the prosecutor, he is a member of the Guerreros Unidos cartel. Pasarán also said that an employee of a government institution and a municipal police officer used the mobile phones of two students several days after their disappearance.
Findings and progress of the case
At a funeral home, investigators found illegally obtained weapons, a bone, as well as unregistered bone fragments and teeth, the prosecutor said. A total of 168 people are being prosecuted in the case, with 130 held in pretrial detention. Despite dozens of arrests, there have still been no convictions in the case.
Authorities have found the bodies of only three of the missing students. The search continues, including in isolated rural areas of Guerrero where drug cartels operate. In August, a former governor was detained on suspicion of ordering the deletion of surveillance camera recordings in Iguala on the night the students disappeared. Last year, former high-ranking judge Lambertina Galeana was also detained and accused of helping conceal video showing the alleged course of events.
