By Erika Rosete

The president asks the Prosecutor’s Office to take over the case of the Ayotzinapa student killed at a police checkpoint in Tixtla and urges the parents of the missing students from 2014 not to fall for provocations

Andrés Manuel López Obrador has dedicated a significant part of his Friday morning press conference to discuss the Ayotzinapa case, after being questioned about the death of a student at the hands of the Guerrero police at a police checkpoint on Thursday night. The president has reiterated the information already released by state authorities, stating that four student teachers were traveling in a stolen van and, after refusing to stop at the police checkpoint and shooting at the officers, were repelled by the police. At the scene, one of them died, while another remains in custody. López Obrador has instructed the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) to take over this case and clarify the facts.

“We are going to ask, in a respectful manner, for a thorough investigation and for what happened to be disclosed. We have decided in the security cabinet that, to clarify what happened and punish those responsible, we will request that the FGR take over the case,” said López Obrador. The president clarified that it was not a clash between police and protesters and pledged to clarify it once it is in the hands of the Prosecutor’s Office. “We don’t want anyone to lose their life, and we don’t want to, in any way, fall into provocations. We all have to act responsibly. I was an opposition leader for many years, and our demonstrations were always peaceful, and we always took care of the people,” he added.

In that regard, López Obrador called on the parents of the students who disappeared in September 2014 not to fall for provocations and urged them to act responsibly. “With all due respect, and not to be seen as an act of censorship, I ask and call on the lawyer advising the parents of the missing young people from Ayotzinapa not to engage in acts of provocation, to act responsibly,” he said, referring to a video in which Vidulfo Rosales, the families’ lawyer, stated that they will insist on having a dialogue with the president and will even attend the campaign events of the official candidate Claudia Sheinbaum, mainly until they are heard and attended to.

“What is that?” the president questioned and asked why these announced protest actions are not also directed at the other presidential candidates, Xóchitl Gálvez and Jorge Álvarez Máynez. “Military personnel, two generals, are already in jail, and many of those involved, and we are working every day in the search for the young people, and the offices are open for dialogue,” he said.

The president used himself as an example to talk about the responsibility of representing a protest movement and claimed that all freedoms are guaranteed in Mexico. When asked about the concerns of the student teachers about what happened on Thursday night in Tixtla, the president responded: “We do not repress anyone. We will not respond with violence in any way, by conviction, we are not repressors.”

“Yes, it was the State”

López Obrador has shown several documents that were signed a few days after the disappearance of the students in September 2014, in which human rights organizations requested precautionary measures for the families and for the missing young people. He also defended his government’s handling of the case and argued that the then Attorney General Murillo Karam, who, he claimed, went to jail during his administration, accepted responsibility: “The same attorney general admits that he was responsible, so yes, it was the State.”

He criticized that, even if soldiers were allegedly involved in the case, there is still no evidence: “But the intention is not to go after the alleged responsible members of the Army, but to go against the institution, why? Why weaken the Army?” he questioned.

March 8 Protests

The president took the opportunity to call for the protests scheduled for this Friday, on International Women’s Day, to be peaceful: “I call on those who are going to demonstrate today, who have every right to do so because in our country there is no repression, freedoms are fully guaranteed, freedom of demonstration and expression is not limited as it was before,” he said.

The president reproached the tearing down of the door of the National Palace in recent days and emphasized that neither he nor his movement have been supporters of violent forms of demonstration: “Don’t throw stones or bombs, don’t use blowtorches, don’t attack those who are maintaining order protecting property, stores, shops. Historical sites, the Cathedral, the National Palace. And also, with all due respect, it is certainly not an order, mandate, or instruction, a respectful recommendation: take off the hood. If we live in a free country, why cover yourself.

Source: El País
https://elpais.com/mexico/2024-03-08/lopez-obrador-defiende-su-gestion-del-caso-ayotzinapa-todos-los-dias-trabajamos-en-la-busqueda-de-los-normalistas.html