Fugitive ex-official implicates Mexican ex-president, others in tale spun of student disappearances
A former head of investigations for Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office told officials investigating the 2014 disappearance of 43 students that the so-called “historic truth” presented to the public weeks later was cooked up by the highest ranking officials in the Mexican government
MEXICO CITY (AP) — A former head of investigations for Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office told officials investigating the 2014 disappearance of 43 students that the so-called “historic truth” presented to the public weeks later was cooked up by the highest ranking authorities in the government during meetings presided over by then-President Enrique Peña Nieto, a Mexican news outlet reported Monday.
Tomás Zerón, a fugitive now in Israel beyond the reach of Mexican law enforcement, told investigators that the president and members of his security Cabinet were present, the independent journalism collective Fabrica de Periodismo reported.
It quoted from Zerón’s answers to a lengthy questionnaire sent to him in 2022 by Mexico’s top human rights official at the time, Alejandro Encinas, which was released under a freedom of information request.
The “historic truth” version contended the students were turned over by local police to a drug gang in the city of Iguala. The gang purportedly killed the students, incinerated their bodies at a dump in nearby Cocula and tossed the remains into a river.
