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| Gualberto Ramírez Gutiérrez |
A federal judge charged Gualberto Ramirez Gutierrez, the former head of Mexico's Specialized Attorney's Office for Organized Crime (SEIDO), for torture and forced disappearance in the notorious 43 missing students case of Ayotzinapa, Guerrero.
The presiding judge Juan José Hernández Leyva, of Reclusorio Sur penitentiary, determined that Ramírez Gutiérrez was a co-perpetrator of criminal abuses against Felipe Rodríguez Salgado (alias "El Cepillo" or "El Terco"), identified as an alleged gang member of Guerreros Unidos.
Mexican prosecutors say that in January 2015 Ramirez Gutierrez was present during an interrogation and torture session investigators conducted to El Cepillo, who played a role in the disappearance of the 43 students.
According to prosecutors, Tomás Zerón, former head of the Criminal Investigation Agency (AIC), and Ignacio Mendoza Gandaria, director of the Intelligence and National Security Center (CISEN), also participated in this interrogation.
It is believed that Ramirez Gutierrez's ordered the torture so that El Cepillo would confess a distorted version of the events that some government officials favored.
Ramirez Gutierrez was accused of torture in October 2019 by federal agents, but he was finally arrested on June 2023. There have been over 100 arrests warrants issued against people involved in the Ayotzinapa case in the past five years. Many of them are currently at large.
Background
According to Mexican government's version of the story, referred by the former FGR chief as the Verdad Historica (English: Historic Truth), Guerreros Unidos gang members kidnapped and killed the students in September 2014 after they mistook them for rival gangsters.
The incident started when the students hijacked several buses in the area before a protest, a tradition that had long been practiced by the school and tolerated by some of the bus companies.
As they traveled back from Iguala to Ayotzinapa, where the school is based, they were intercepted by the police. The incident quickly devolved into a chaotic night that involved law enforcement and gangsters.
After a long standoff with the police, several students were arrested and reportedly handed over to Guerreros Unidos.
By dawn the next morning, 6 students were confirmed dead in Iguala, dozens more were wounded. But 43 more had vanished.
The government alleges that the students were killed and their bodies were then disposed in a garbage dump and burned in a large fire. However, several independent investigations have cast doubts on the official report's findings.
Independent investigators said that the investigation was "deeply flawed", starting by the fact that many of the detainees were confirmed to have been tortured to confess.
In addition, they claimed to have satellite images on the day of the students' disappearance that showed there had been no fire that night. Critics say that the remains of the first two students identified were found at the rubbish dump in question or planted there by authorities.
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I wonder what really happened then... what's the cover up. We may never know, or maybe not in our lifetime.
ReplyDeleteWhatever happened to the gnomish mayor and his horrendous wife?
ReplyDeleteAs I recall the female Mayor had connections, with high ranking curupt officials and curupt officials had connections to local criminals. The Mayor was going to host a public event and did not want the 43 students to go protest. She made some calls and set the motion of the 43 students killed and made disappeared.
DeleteWere any buses used to transport drugs perhaps?
ReplyDeleteYeah. That’s where the DEA got somewhat involved in the case. Some people in the case were arrested in Chicago. That’s where Guerreros Unidos pulled some strings and where some believe one of the buses was heading to. The students fucked up. They were used to causing problems but they messed with the wrong people. I visit Guerrero on occasion and lots of people down there were tired of them. They killed a gasoline station worker once named Gonzalo. Plus millions in damages over the years to people who made a humble living.
Delete10:43 The students killed a gasoline station worker?
Delete10:50 - Yes. His name was Gonzalo Rivas. He tried to stop a fire they caused at a gas station and died in the explosion.
Deletehttps://elpais.com/internacional/2016/11/16/mexico/1479254024_009351.html
MF looks like Dr. Mengela
ReplyDeleteWhat were they protesting? Jacked up bus fares? Hijacking is a crime in the states! In Mexico it's normal.
ReplyDeleteThey were leftist communists. Nothing of value was lost.
DeleteThat’s one shady looking midget.
ReplyDeleteGood cover-up by the local government.
ReplyDeleteTried to pin it on the local gang.
All 43 vanished into thin air.
We usually hear Cartels disappearing people.
Thank you for the update and further details on this incident
ReplyDelete