According to Reuters, 111,896 people were registered as missing in the Mexican government’s database as of October 2023. Forty-three of them, in particular, have had a resounding impact on the country.
The Ayotzinapa Rural Normal School, also known as the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College, is located three-and-a-half hours south of Mexico City, in the state of Guerrero. The rural teachers' education system, initiated in the 1920s, was started to allow educational opportunities to rural areas in Mexico that were often impoverished. The schools are all male and typically made up of students from the poorest families in the area.
Social activism is a central element of the rural normal school system. On Sept. 26, 2014, students of the Ayotzinapa Rural Normal School were on their way to a march in Mexico City to mark the anniversary of the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre, in which the Mexican army gunned down 300 to 400 students. To get to Mexico City, the students commandeered several buses in the town of Iguala. While hijacking buses may seem extreme elsewhere, it was a practice somewhat tolerated by bus companies and local authorities, as the buses were generally returned. (It’s often the passengers that have the most complaints, sometimes left stranded.) Nonetheless, it appeared that the boys from Ayotzinapa took over the wrong bus.
This time, local police authorities set up roadblocks and began firing into two of the three buses taken by students. Several boys were killed, and others escaped into the hills. Forty-three students, however, were placed in police cars and never seen again.
Widespread corruption among the government, police force and the army has been an unfortunate part of Mexico’s recent history. Violence has surged since 2006, when then-president Felipe Calderón declared the “War on Drugs.” The local cartel, Guerreros Unidos (United Warriors), was particularly strong in Iguala, where the students disappeared. What is nearly certain is that the students were handed over to Guerreros Unidos, who murdered them and disposed of their remains. A few token arrests were made at the time, and in all likelihood the 43 students of the Ayotzinapa Rural Normal School would have been among the multitude of forgotten victims, if not for their parents.
Despite being poor and placing their own lives in danger, the parents of the 43 students fought for answers. They marched once a month through the center of Mexico City, doing anything they could to draw attention to their missing sons, from blocking government buildings to shouting in the streets. Their cause gained momentum among the population, many people unhappy over cartel-driven corruption, and the number 43 was painted on buildings all over Mexico. The parents traveled to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, to officially petition for an investigation into the disappearance. After garnering international attention, the Mexican government was forced to look into the case further.
Unfortunately for the families of the missing students, definite answers have not come to light. Several presidents have taken office in the country and commissioned investigations in the 10 years since the disappearance, but their reports have holes in them, if not improbabilities. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights investigated the event as well but stated that the Mexican government was using spyware to hack their computers. After multiple attempts to research the case, they gave up in frustration, citing that widespread collusion has kept them from finding the truth. What does seem to be clear, nonetheless, is that the coverup involves the Mexican army, the police force, the drug cartel and likely the local mayor as well.
Perhaps one of the most promising theories comes from an investigation by Anabel Hernández for Proceso magazine and later corroborated by the efforts of the podcast Reveal. Hernández states that the students unknowingly commandeered two buses that were carrying heroin, and the drug cartel ordered the 27th Infantry Battalion of the Mexican Army to retrieve the bus. Being witnesses, the students were killed. Reveal podcast asserts that the third bus was separated by the police and spared the gunfire because it did not carry drugs. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) confirmed that it was the practice of the Guerreros Unidos to use passenger buses to transport drugs in sealed compartments.
The year after the disappearance, relatives of the missing boys split into small groups and toured the U.S. They reached 43 cities in 19 states and then met together again to march to the United Nations headquarters in New York City. Their aim was simple: to make sure people knew about their missing children and how deep collusion went in the Mexican power structure. They achieved their goal of bringing their story to a larger audience, something remarkable for a group of impoverished rural parents left with little but their grief.
The day before the teenagers disappeared, a video was taken of them learning farming practices at the school. These are the last images the families have of their missing boys. With each year that passes, it feels less and less likely that full and accurate accountability will ever be reached for the students of the Ayotzinapa Rural Normal School. However, by refusing to allow the world to forget what happened in September 2014, the families of the victims proved that not all heinous acts by those in power can be brushed aside easily.
