{"id":35288,"date":"2024-08-26T20:09:24","date_gmt":"2024-08-27T00:09:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/fugitive-ex-official-implicates-mexican-ex-president-others-in-tale-spun-of-student-disappearances\/26\/08\/2024\/"},"modified":"2024-08-26T20:09:24","modified_gmt":"2024-08-27T00:09:24","slug":"fugitive-ex-official-implicates-mexican-ex-president-others-in-tale-spun-of-student-disappearances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/fugitive-ex-official-implicates-mexican-ex-president-others-in-tale-spun-of-student-disappearances\/26\/08\/2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Fugitive ex-official implicates Mexican ex-president, others in tale spun of student disappearances"},"content":{"rendered":"

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MEXICO CITY (AP) \u2014 A former head of investigations for Mexico\u2019s Attorney General\u2019s Office told officials investigating the 2014 disappearance of 43 students that the so-called \u201chistoric truth\u201d presented to the public weeks later was cooked up by the highest ranking authorities in the government during meetings presided over by then-President Enrique Pe\u00f1a Nieto, a Mexican news outlet reported Monday.<\/p>\n

Tom\u00e1s Zer\u00f3n, a fugitive now in Israel beyond the reach of Mexican law enforcement, told investigators that the president and members of his security Cabinet were present, the independent journalism collective Fabrica de Periodismo reported.<\/p>\n

It quoted from Zer\u00f3n\u2019s answers to a lengthy questionnaire sent to him in 2022 by Mexico\u2019s top human rights official at the time, Alejandro Encinas, which was released under a freedom of information request.<\/p>\n

The \u201chistoric truth\u201d version contended the students were turned over by local police to a drug gang in the city of Iguala. The gang purportedly killed the students, incinerated their bodies at a dump in nearby Cocula and tossed the remains into a river.<\/p>\n

Subsequent investigations by independent experts and the Attorney General\u2019s Office, and corroborated by the Truth Commission established for the case, have since dismissed the idea the bodies were burned at the dump.<\/p>\n

A local drug gang was indeed involved, they determined, but the Truth Commission also believes corrupt members of Mexico’s military<\/a> as well as police at all levels were, too.<\/p>\n

Encinas, the human rights official, previously referred to high-level meetings of officials to discuss the \u201chistoric truth\u201d version, but without identifying all of those present.<\/p>\n

According to Zer\u00f3n, the meetings were attended by the president as well as his security Cabinet and then-Attorney General Jes\u00fas Murillo Karam. Murillo Karam has been credited with calling the explanation of the students\u2019 disappearance the \u201chistoric truth\u201d and has been under house arrest awaiting trial. Pe\u00f1a Nieto now lives in Spain.<\/p>\n

Zer\u00f3n, who is accused of torture and forced disappearance<\/a>, did not provide any detail on Pe\u00f1a Nieto\u2019s involvement other than to say he was at the meetings.<\/p>\n

Encinas, who resigned from his post last year, has said he offered Zer\u00f3n a deal for his cooperation in the investigation.<\/p>\n

Asked about the case Monday, President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador said Zer\u00f3n should turn himself in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would help a lot if he would come to make a statement and take responsibility,\u201d the president said.<\/p>\n

L\u00f3pez Obrador was scheduled to meet with families of the missing students Tuesday, the last time before he leaves office at the end of September.<\/p>\n

Families of the missing students made their monthly march for justice in the capital on Monday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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MEXICO CITY (AP) — A former head of investigations for Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office told officials investigating the 2014 disappearance of 43