“We cannot negotiate over suffering; we want our children back alive”

An absence, a lingering and profound emptiness, filled the presidential palace, Residencia Oficial de Los Pinos, this Wednesday. President Enrique Peña Nieto and the parents of the 43 missing student teachers who disappeared in Iguala more than a month ago stood crestfallen under the weight of that absence. The two parties held a five-hour meeting before issuing separate statements. The relatives of the missing made an unwavering demand: “They took them alive and we want them alive.” The president was understanding of their pain and he promised to find those responsible, without leaving any room for impunity.

In an image that will long remain in the memory of Mexicans, the relatives of the students – fleeing from the courtly protocol and joint photo-ops with Peña Nieto – chose the simple offices of the Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Center as the place where they would express the feelings eating them inside after a 33-day search for the students failed to offer any results. “We cannot negotiate over suffering; a life does not have a price,” said Felipe de la Cruz, the father of one of the missing students.

Let the president know that we will not put any faith in him or in the state until he returns them alive”

“We just want to see our children at the school again. We have been in hell without sleep or food for more than 30 days. Let the president know that we will not put any faith in him or in the state until he returns them alive.”

Some of the relatives, dressed in modest clothes, had difficulty expressing themselves in public, but they climbed onto that platform to show that they were distancing themselves from the authorities. They insisted that the lack of results in the investigation had thrown up a wall that could only be brought down by the discovery of the students. Despite numerous signs pointing to their probable deaths at the hands of drug traffickers, they have not lost hope that the students are still alive and they demanded that Peña Nieto speed up the investigations. “They have made fun of us; we’ve just wasted our time” said Epifanio Álvarez, another father. “We have been waiting since that night. And we are drowning in pain. When I eat, I think about what he might be eating; when I drink, I think about what he might be drinking. This is a nightmare from which we cannot wake up.”

“We cannot trust anyone without results. We are willing to give our lives for our schoolmates,” said David Flórez Maldonado, a fellow student. “Today the president only made promises and we need facts.”

President Peña Nieto showed solidarity with the families and he said he shared their “indignation, pain and doubts.” He appeared on television – not wearing a tie – to say: “There is no room for impunity. We are going to find the guilty and we are going to apply the law no matter what.”

Although the relatives’ statements made it clear that there was some distance between them and the president, the meeting at Los Pinos ended with a signed agreement that included 10 requests from the victims. The relatives called for the creation of a joint commission with representatives from the government and families to maintain a constant flow of information. According to the agreement, officials will also redesign the strategy for the search of the missing students and they will focus more attention on the families of the six who died on September 26. And lastly, Peña Nieto announced his support for “dignifying” rural teachers’ colleges.

The private meeting showed the Mexican government’s desire to straighten out a case that is likely to come to a dramatic end soon. After an erratic start, when the investigation fell into the hands of the now-ousted governor of Guerrero, Ángel Aguirre, federal authorities were forced to take the wheel, overseeing police investigations while also advocating for the victims, whose unease and abandonment caused a wave of protests across the country. This rapprochement led to Wednesday’s meeting.

During the meeting, family members insisted that they do not believe the students are dead and they pressed for the search to focus on a kidnapping – a thorny issue given the many signs suggesting that the youths were killed in cold blood. They also asked officials to not criminalize the activities of the students because of new information that ties them to vigilantes, self-defense groups operating outside the law, and to Los Rojos, the rival cartel of Guerreros Unidos.

The timing of the meeting with the president was no accident, now that the investigation has reached a turning point. The capture of Guerreros Unidos’ top boss, Sidronio Casarrubias Salgado, has begun to shed light on what happened on the tragic night of September 26. A number of arrests have been made and a new mass grave has been found in Cocula, a town close to Iguala, suggesting that the puzzle is almost complete.

The meeting showed the Mexican government’s desire to straighten out a case that is likely to come to a dramatic end

Although officials do not want to talk about deaths – a taboo for the families – investigators believe Guerreros Unidos’ hitmen killed the students after Iguala and Cocula’s municipal police – two forces controlled by drug cartels – turned them over.

Meanwhile, the motive behind the probable killing is still a mystery. According to statements by Sidronio Casarrubias published in Reforma, the students were taken by a rival gang, Los Rojos, and 17 hitmen infiltrated his own organization with the aim of killing the cartel’s leader in Iguala. This somewhat exculpatory version is filled with holes and it draws a dangerous connection between the students and the criminals. That is a link that their relatives flatly deny, and that, in any case, does not justify such a massacre.

Less problematic is the part of the confession that confirms that Iguala’s mayor and his wife - now fugitives from the law - are members of the cartel. According to the account, the wife was responsible for the organization’s finances, the main economic fundraiser for former Governor Aguirre’s campaign and his alleged lover. This last statement clears the way for authorities to officially investigate the former governor’s ties to the couple, who are now Mexico’s most wanted individuals.

Translation: Dyane Jean François