Former Guerrero Governor Ángel Aguirre Arrested Over Destroyed Ayotzinapa Evidence
Arrest of Former Guerrero Governor
Federal authorities on Thursday announced the arrest of former Guerrero Governor Ángel Heladio Aguirre Rivero in connection with the 2014 abduction and presumed murder of 43 teachers college students. [3] Aguirre, governor of Guerrero from 2011 until his resignation in October 2014, was detained in México state on charges of concealment and/or destruction of evidence related to the whereabouts of the students, according to the Federal Attorney General’s Office. [3] The former governor was arrested on charges of obstruction of justice and forced disappearance. [2] He was detained in Tepotzotlán, a México state municipality north of Mexico City, and subsequently transferred to the Altiplano federal prison in Almoloya de Juárez, México state. [3] Attorney General Ernestina Godoy told reporters that an analysis based on new evidence confirmed the possible involvement of Ángel “N,” former governor of Guerrero, in the destruction of evidence that could have revealed the students’ whereabouts. [2]
New Witness Testimony on Destroyed Evidence
New testimony from two people in January and May, one a protected witness, helped establish that Aguirre may have ordered the destruction of evidence related to the night of the students’ disappearance in a meeting with senior officials in his administration. [2] The attorney general said that state authorities had initially claimed that security camera footage of the students traveling by bus near government offices in Guerrero did not exist. [2] On the night of September 26, 2014, the “Estrella de Oro” bus number 1531, on which the group of teacher-training students was traveling, was captured on video by security cameras 12 and 15, located outside the State Palace of Justice in Iguala, at the time it was stopped by municipal and state police officers. [3] The first official statements claimed that the material in question did not exist due to alleged technical failures in the security camera system. [3] In January, a cooperating witness provided testimony that confirmed the existence of the video recordings and identified the person who removed the recordings in order to deliver them directly to Aguirre. [3] That witness also provided information about threats they had received, which explained their previous silence. [3] In May, a second protected witness strengthened said testimony by declaring that Aguirre ordered, in a meeting with top officials from his government, the concealment of any evidence related to the events that occurred in the vicinity of the Iguala Palace of Justice. [3] The Attorney General’s Office has evidence that confirms that said instruction of concealment was issued directly by the then governor, with the participation of high-level state public servants. [3]
Background on the 2014 Ayotzinapa Disappearance
The students from Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers College were abducted in Iguala in September 2014, handed over to the Guerreros Unidos cartel by police, and killed. [3] The students, all young men, disappeared in Iguala, Guerrero, on September 26, 2014, after the bus on which they were traveling to Mexico City was stopped by municipal and state police. [3] International probes have determined that the students were killed by organized crime members in cahoots with police while they were on their way to a protest in Mexico City. [2] The remains of three victims have since been positively identified, but the others have yet to be found. [2] Godoy said that the FGR carried out a reexamination of the September 2014 disappearance of 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers College in Guerrero. [3]
Prior Investigations and Detentions in the Case
The arrest is one of the most prominent in the case, which has seen prior detentions of soldiers, police, cartel members and former federal attorney general Jesús Murillo Karam. [3] Scores of people have been arrested in connection with the case, but no one has been convicted of the crime and some suspects have been released from prison. [3] Among those who have been detained are soldiers and high-ranking members of the Mexican Army, police officers, Guerreros Unidos members and Jesús Murillo Karam, federal attorney general at the time of the students’ disappearance. [3] Murillo was detained in 2022 on charges of forced disappearance, torture and obstruction of justice in connection with the Ayotzinapa case. [3] He was released from prison in 2024 after a judge ruled he could await trial under house arrest. [3] The 78-year-old former attorney general suffered a stroke in April. [3] Angela Buitrago, a member of the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts, said her team had opened the line of investigation into Aguirre in 2015. [2] She said the latest information reinforced the team’s conclusion that the state was responsible, and had the footage Aguirre reportedly ordered to be destroyed come to light sooner, it could have helped find the students. [2]
U.S. Increases Rewards Targeting CJNG Leadership
Separately, the U.S. raised its reward for information on the new alleged CJNG leader Juan Carlos Valencia González to $25 million following the death of “El Mencho,” part of over $100 million in total rewards targeting eight CJNG figures. [5] The U.S. government on Wednesday raised from US $5 million to $25 million the maximum reward it is offering for information leading to the arrest of Juan Carlos Valencia González, the alleged new leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. [5] The U.S. State Department announced the higher bounty as part of reward offers totaling up to $102 million for information leading to the arrests and/or convictions, in any country, of eight leaders and associates of the CJNG. [5] The reward offers include up to $25 million for Juan Carlos Valencia González, aka “Pelón,” the new leader of CJNG following the recent death of his stepfather, CJNG founder Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, aka “El Mencho.” [5] Oseguera was fatally wounded by soldiers during a military operation in Tapalpa, Jalisco, on Feb. 22. [5] Valencia González was charged in October 2020 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance for purpose of unlawful importation into the United States and use of a firearm during a narcotics transaction. [5]
Ongoing Impact and Reactions
The case, considered one of the country’s worst human-rights atrocities, has been marred by missteps and interference. [2] The disappearance of the 43 young men, a crime of the state according to a top official in the previous federal government, was a major blight on the 2012-18 presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto, but he survived widespread calls for his removal from office. [3] The arrest of Aguirre is one of the most prominent detentions in connection with the Ayotzinapa case, which sparked outrage in Mexico and around the world, and triggered large protests in Mexico City and across the country. [3] A spokesperson for Enrique Peña Nieto, who was president from 2012 to 2018, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. [2]
What to watch next: The U.S. State Department is also offering rewards of up to $15 million each for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of other CJNG figures including Gonzalo Mendoza Gaytán and Julio Alberto Castillo Rodríguez, along with visa restrictions on 65 individuals who are family members or close personal or business associates of persons linked to CJNG. [5]
