Mexican federal authorities had real-time information of an attack on a group of student teachers by corrupt local police, but did nothing to stop the disappearance and probable massacre of 43 people, according to new evidence published by the news magazine Proceso.
Based on leaked government documents, the new allegations are likely to further fuel public anger at the government of the president, Enrique Pe?a Nieto, which has insisted that federal authorities share no responsibility for the students’ disappearance.
So far, 79 people have been arrested over the presumed massacre on 26 September: all are allegedly linked to a network of corrupt local politicians and police officers in the southern city of Iguala or members of a drug gang called Guerreros Unidos.
Parents of the missing students have long alleged that federal law enforcement institutions must have known what was happening and attacked them for not intervening. Scepticism over the government account of the massacre – and frustration with the sometimes haphazard federal response – has propelled a string of protests against the government in recent weeks.
Popular fury over the massacre – and recurring allegations of state involvement – have helped bring hundreds of thousands of protesters to a string of anti-government demonstrations over recent weeks.
