Mexican authorities have arrested Ángel Aguirre, the former governor of the southern state of Guerrero, for his alleged involvement in the 2014 disappearance of 43 students. The case has become a symbol of impunity and state complicity in cartel violence.
Federal prosecutors announced Thursday that Aguirre is accused of "concealing evidence to determine the whereabouts of the students" from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ College. Aguirre, who belonged to a party that later evolved into Mexico's ruling Morena party, governed Guerrero from 2011 until his resignation in October 2014, one month after the students disappeared.
The disappearance of the students, who had commandeered buses for a protest, drew widespread condemnation both in Mexico and internationally. The case continues to fuel outrage as details emerge years later.
According to Mexican authorities, a cartel in Iguala, Guerrero, attacked the students in collusion with security forces and various levels of government, including the military. Officials are suspected of participating in the crime or its cover-up.
Attorney General Ernestina Godoy stated that two testimonies collected this year suggest Aguirre ordered the destruction of security camera footage from a key attack location on the night of the disappearances. "The Attorney General’s Office has evidence proving that this order to conceal the evidence was issued directly by the then-governor, with the participation of high-level state officials," Godoy said, characterizing the concealment as a "malicious operation, deliberately orchestrated from the highest levels of the State Executive Branch."
Godoy did not specify why the testimonies from a collaborator and a protected witness, gathered in January and May 2016, were obtained more than a decade after the events. She indicated that a reanalysis of the case with a new investigative approach began upon her arrival at the Attorney General’s Office at the end of last year.
The Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Center, representing the families, stated that neither the students' parents nor their attorneys had been notified of the arrest or were aware of the charges. The center noted that if the legal process is "solid and in accordance with the law, it could help settle a debt of justice for the families."
The current federal administration had previously committed to informing parents first of any developments, a key demand from families for years. Clemente Rodríguez, the father of one of the missing students, recalled that families had requested Aguirre's investigation from the outset, stating, "He has to tell everything he knows."
Despite multiple administrations, dozens of arrests, and an investigation marred by irregularities, key questions remain unanswered. While authorities believe the students were killed, only bone fragments from three have been identified. The motive for the attack is unclear, though it is thought to be linked to heroin trafficking involving the local cartel and authorities.
On September 26, 2014, students were attacked at various locations. Official statements initially claimed that footage showing security forces stopping one of the buses outside the Palace of Justice did not exist. The federal prosecutor's office now confirms what investigators from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) previously denounced: that these recordings were hidden or destroyed to conceal evidence.
The administration of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador described the Ayotzinapa case as a "state crime." During the current administration of President Claudia Sheinbaum, which began in October 2024, new lines of investigation were reportedly reopened, some of which have led to Aguirre's arrest, according to the prosecutor.