- Moderator
- #1
Pretty unbelievable - this isn't some far off over seas country - this is right next door. And we complain about corruption?
43 students murdered and interred in mass graves.
Elected officials working in collussion with drug gangs and cartels to facilitate this mass murder.
Unbelievable. The poor families
43 Missing Students 1 Missing Mayor Of Crime And Collusion In Mexico Parallels NPR
43 students murdered and interred in mass graves.
Elected officials working in collussion with drug gangs and cartels to facilitate this mass murder.
Unbelievable. The poor families
43 Missing Students 1 Missing Mayor Of Crime And Collusion In Mexico Parallels NPR
On the second story of the municipal palace in Iguala, Mexico, Mayor Jose Luis Abarca occupied the large corner office. His wife, Maria de los Angeles Pineda, head of the city's family welfare department, occupied the one right next door. From there, residents say, the two ruthlessly ruled over this city of 150,000 in the southern state of Guerrero. A national newspaper dubbed the duo the "imperial couple."
But on Sept. 30, their reign ended. The mayor, with his wife by his side, asked the city council for a leave of absence. Neither has been seen since.
That happened four days after 43 university students disappeared after a confrontation with police in Iguala. Twenty-eight bodies — thought to be some of the missing students — were discovered in a nearby mass grave a week ago. More mass graves were discovered Friday.
The case highlights the corruption and collusion between politicians and drug traffickers in many parts of rural Mexico today.
Residents say Iguala changed under the current Mayor Abarca's tenure.
"Crime has been terrible since Jose Luis Abarca took over," says Claudia Guitierrez, a 20-year-old law student. "Iguala was never like this before."
These days Mexico's new paramilitary gendarmerie patrols Iguala's streets. Twenty-two local cops are under arrest, four are fugitives, and the remainder of the force was relieved of duty.
Authorities say that on Sept. 26, officers shot at three buses of students from a poor, rural teaching college who had come into town soliciting donations. After the shooting, with six people dead, the local cops were seen corralling the surviving students into patrol cars. Reportedly some of the officers confessed to turning the students over to a local drug gang, which later killed them.
Authorities say they don't have a motive yet, but focus has centered on Iguala's mayor and his wife, who have well-known connections to traffickers.