The 43 Missing Students Are Not Alone. Mexico's Justice System Is Broken. Mary Speck - The Huffington Post
go to original May 14, 2016

The Merida Initiative is not about drug trafficking but in fact about allowing US intervention for the benefit of transnational capital, says Dawn Paley, author of Drug War Capitalism. (TheRealNews)

Even in a country hardened by nearly a decade of deadly criminal conflict, the Ayotzinapa case stands out: 43 students forcibly disappeared during the night of Sept. 26, 2014, allegedly at the hands of municipal police in league with a local drug gang. President Enrique Peña Nieto promised that this horrific crime, above all, would not go unpunished. “After Iguala,” he declared, naming the city where the youths went missing, “Mexico must change.”

Nineteen months later, the case has generated much controversy but little change. A group of international experts backed by the Organization of American States, invited by the government to assist federal investigators on behalf of the victims’ families, has departed after issuing a scathing 600-page report citing evidence that suspects were tortured, promising leads left unexplored, contradictory forensic reports ignored and key evidence mishandled — perhaps planted — in an apparent effort to close the probe as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, the president’s proposed security reforms — most notably a plan to fold more than 1,800 municipal police forces into 31 statewide corporations — remain largely unfulfilled. A national violence prevention program — touted by candidate Peña Nieto as the answer to his predecessor’s discredited war on drugs — has seen its already meager funding slashed by about 20 percent since 2013.

...President Peña Nieto could still put his country on track to end the self-perpetuating cycles of violence, corruption and impunity that have turned certain regions into virtual war zones. But to do so, the president must address the “incredulity and distrust,” which, as he himself has stated, are undermining the law and order essential to assure that his economic reforms generate the promised prosperity.

Read the rest at The Huffington Post

Related: After Months of Investigation, More Doubts Than Certainties Remain in Mexico's Ayotzinapa Case (Global Voices)

Related: Mexican Authorities Accused of Torturing Suspects in Missing Students Case (Associated Press)

Related: Mexico Justice System: Police and Prosecutor Dysfunction the Problem, Not Due Process (Mexico Voices)

Related: Other View: Mexico's Faltering Efforts to Fight Corruption (Bloomberg View)

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