La Jornada (10-4-2014)
By Arturo Cano, translated by un vato for Borderland Beat
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| Marine guard in Iguala |
IGUALA, Gro.- "You're the only one who will know this", said the weary ministerial police officer, although he went on to tell half the world: "there's nine bodies. Why did the state prosecutor say that it was bones? Because they burned them up with diesel".
The waiting, on a street -- if you can call it that-- in a precarious neighborhood to the northwest of this city, right by the hills, was long and tense. To top it off, a ministerial police office accidentally fired a shot.
Contrary to the usual practice, the authorities forbid the media from getting close to two places where clandestine graves with human remains were found. Containing six persons, they say at first. Twenty, is the number going around by nightfall (although a state government source asserted right at 9:00 pm that there were nine). There, because a pair of reporters who took the wrong road ended up at another site where they weren't allowed to cross, either. What they saw was similar to the operation carried out in the Pueblo Viejo killing site..
A source from the excavation site confirmed that, despite the condition of the remains, there are indications that it is the students.
In this same area, between April and May, authorities found a total of 30 cadavers in several clandestine graves. Then, the reporters were able to get close to the place.
Everybody else may be astonished, but not the people who live there. "To tell you the truth, this place is a drug trafficker cemetery," said a girl, who seemed to be amused by the macabre business. "A lot of bad smelling pickups often pass through here at night, I mean really stinking".
"The military and the police have been coming here all week", her mother goes on. "That never happened before. What usually happened is that, at night, pickup trucks would come in, like what happened Saturday with those students, but we never look out."
Right at that moment, the state Attorney General, Inaky Blanco Cabrera, drove up in a white pick up, and he asked the newspaper group to be "understanding". He released two facts: it is "an indeterminate number" and there are "skeletal remains".
Hours later, the prosecutor appeared with the governor, Angel Aguirre in a press conference in which he elaborated: "It would be irresponsible on my part to state that it is the normalistas (student teachers)". Forensic genetic testing will tell.
If it is not the student teachers, those who were waiting uselessly commented, will the responsibility of authorities at all levels be any less?
Many do not believe it. Meeting in Ayotzinapa, the leaders of the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE: Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educacion), the students from the Ayotzinapa teachers school and the relatives of the disappeared students were called to meet at the Casa Guerrero, one of the state government offices.
When they were called to the meeting, they were told it was to clear up "some rumors", and that they would be met by Ernesto Aguirre, the governor's advisor. To every one's surprise, they were met by the governor of the state. The student teachers, who have agreed they will not speak to the governor, left the meeting. The CNTE general secretaries stayed behind and, among other things, demanded that the identification of the remains be carried out by the noted team of Argentine forensic investigators that has operated in Mexico on other occasions (the governor had offered only what he had offered at the press conference: wait for DNA studies).
The student teachers went out, yelled out some threats, fired off some fireworks and "shook the door; fortunately, it went no farther", said Pedro Hernandez, with Section 9 in the Federal District, from Chilpancingo.
"For a week, we have been sleeping on the street. We don't even get an allowance to eat, while the politicians are strutting around", said one of them, as he pointed at one of his companions who was just swallowing some junk food. "Look at what we're eating."
Anger loosened the tongues of the police officers (none of them from that area, all of them brought in from police agencies in the capital and the coast):
"We would have liked to meet up with those sons of bitches, but nothing. We even went to their houses, but there was nobody there", (nobody from the Guerreros Unidos group, it is understood).
"But there are detainees, that's why we're here."
The governor would later say there had been thirty arrests related to the investigation into the clandestine burials.
The cops went on: "On of the detainees spit it all out. He came with us and showed us where they buried them. "Why? Well, because he was one of the ones who did it."
The detainee, say the local reporters, could be an individual who was arrested a couple of days ago after a gunfight. "He went inside the CBTIS 56 (a local school) during classes and fired some shots inside; you know those bastards don't care who they kill", confirmed a professor from Iguala.
The operation started a little after 8:00 am. The state Attorney General's anti-kidnapping group went in first. Then the ministerial police got there.
Past noon, the panorama was as follows: above, an Army helicopter, then another one from the state police, and still later, a third one that local reporters recognized as the aircraft that is used by Ernesto Aguirre, nephew and advisor of Governor Angel Aguirre ("the real governor", commented the local reporters).
Below, all the state police agencies, Federal police, the Army, the Marines, the Medical Examiner and the station wagons from the funeral homes with which they have contracts. Hell, even the H. Corp Firefighters.
To get to the area, which provides a panoramic view of the city of Iguala, one must go through "streets" that look like small streams. The residents don't know anything about drinking water or sewage drains.
Where the houses end, the huizaches (trees) begin. The bodies were found up on top, in a canyon, in thick brush.
Several colleagues tried to go farther up, nut even the most daring could not make it past the last security cordon manned by the Marines.
From Pueblo Viejo, ministerial police vehicles left the place while escorting a tow truck dragging a green Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Maybe one of the trucks belonging to the Guerreros Unidos, whose participation in the shootings on September 26th and 27th, along with the municipal police, has been confirmed by the state government.
The press conferences without questions have not been enough for Governor Angel Aguirre, who had his photo taken that morning with Jesus Zambrano during his farewell to the PRD party presidency, and in the evening felt constrained to dust off his best common sites in the social networks: "It would be highly reprehensible, those who want to profit or take a political slice, of a situation like the one facing and saddening us today" (actual text).
Even if the demons are loose, night fell in Iguala with a parade ("Peace and Good", reads the banner in front) and a feast in honor of San Francisco de Asis, patron saint of the city. Fireworks were lit, and the band closed with a "no, no, no, El Coco no". (Literally: "no, no, no, not the boogeyman".)
"The military and the police have been coming here all week", her mother goes on. "That never happened before. What usually happened is that, at night, pickup trucks would come in, like what happened Saturday with those students, but we never look out."
Right at that moment, the state Attorney General, Inaky Blanco Cabrera, drove up in a white pick up, and he asked the newspaper group to be "understanding". He released two facts: it is "an indeterminate number" and there are "skeletal remains".
Hours later, the prosecutor appeared with the governor, Angel Aguirre in a press conference in which he elaborated: "It would be irresponsible on my part to state that it is the normalistas (student teachers)". Forensic genetic testing will tell.
If it is not the student teachers, those who were waiting uselessly commented, will the responsibility of authorities at all levels be any less?
Many do not believe it. Meeting in Ayotzinapa, the leaders of the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE: Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educacion), the students from the Ayotzinapa teachers school and the relatives of the disappeared students were called to meet at the Casa Guerrero, one of the state government offices.
When they were called to the meeting, they were told it was to clear up "some rumors", and that they would be met by Ernesto Aguirre, the governor's advisor. To every one's surprise, they were met by the governor of the state. The student teachers, who have agreed they will not speak to the governor, left the meeting. The CNTE general secretaries stayed behind and, among other things, demanded that the identification of the remains be carried out by the noted team of Argentine forensic investigators that has operated in Mexico on other occasions (the governor had offered only what he had offered at the press conference: wait for DNA studies).
The student teachers went out, yelled out some threats, fired off some fireworks and "shook the door; fortunately, it went no farther", said Pedro Hernandez, with Section 9 in the Federal District, from Chilpancingo.
A detainee spit out everything
In Iguala, after the attorney general left, the policemen, which used to be called "judiciales (judicial police) -- now "ministerial" -- stayed, sullen, in front of the reporters."For a week, we have been sleeping on the street. We don't even get an allowance to eat, while the politicians are strutting around", said one of them, as he pointed at one of his companions who was just swallowing some junk food. "Look at what we're eating."
Anger loosened the tongues of the police officers (none of them from that area, all of them brought in from police agencies in the capital and the coast):
"We would have liked to meet up with those sons of bitches, but nothing. We even went to their houses, but there was nobody there", (nobody from the Guerreros Unidos group, it is understood).
"But there are detainees, that's why we're here."
The governor would later say there had been thirty arrests related to the investigation into the clandestine burials.
The cops went on: "On of the detainees spit it all out. He came with us and showed us where they buried them. "Why? Well, because he was one of the ones who did it."
The detainee, say the local reporters, could be an individual who was arrested a couple of days ago after a gunfight. "He went inside the CBTIS 56 (a local school) during classes and fired some shots inside; you know those bastards don't care who they kill", confirmed a professor from Iguala.
The operation started a little after 8:00 am. The state Attorney General's anti-kidnapping group went in first. Then the ministerial police got there.
Past noon, the panorama was as follows: above, an Army helicopter, then another one from the state police, and still later, a third one that local reporters recognized as the aircraft that is used by Ernesto Aguirre, nephew and advisor of Governor Angel Aguirre ("the real governor", commented the local reporters).
Below, all the state police agencies, Federal police, the Army, the Marines, the Medical Examiner and the station wagons from the funeral homes with which they have contracts. Hell, even the H. Corp Firefighters.
To get to the area, which provides a panoramic view of the city of Iguala, one must go through "streets" that look like small streams. The residents don't know anything about drinking water or sewage drains.
Where the houses end, the huizaches (trees) begin. The bodies were found up on top, in a canyon, in thick brush.
Several colleagues tried to go farther up, nut even the most daring could not make it past the last security cordon manned by the Marines.
The Coco and the political slice
It was a day of discoveries in the birthplace of the Flag. At exactly 5:00 in the afternoon, the military, with state and Federal police, searched the home at No. 15 Jardin Campestre Street: in the back yard, buried, they found eight of Mr. Kalashnikov's creations, six AR-15s, 56 rifle magazines, six M-16s and two grenade launchers.From Pueblo Viejo, ministerial police vehicles left the place while escorting a tow truck dragging a green Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Maybe one of the trucks belonging to the Guerreros Unidos, whose participation in the shootings on September 26th and 27th, along with the municipal police, has been confirmed by the state government.
The press conferences without questions have not been enough for Governor Angel Aguirre, who had his photo taken that morning with Jesus Zambrano during his farewell to the PRD party presidency, and in the evening felt constrained to dust off his best common sites in the social networks: "It would be highly reprehensible, those who want to profit or take a political slice, of a situation like the one facing and saddening us today" (actual text).
Even if the demons are loose, night fell in Iguala with a parade ("Peace and Good", reads the banner in front) and a feast in honor of San Francisco de Asis, patron saint of the city. Fireworks were lit, and the band closed with a "no, no, no, El Coco no". (Literally: "no, no, no, not the boogeyman".)