Mexico-Ayotzinapa: Attorney General Irresponsible in Disseminating Incomplete Cocula Study: Independent Experts

Alejandro Valencia, Francisco Cox, Angela Buitrago and Carlos Beristain (microphone),
yesterday at the Memory and Tolerance Museum 
Photo: Jose Antonio Lopez

La Jornada: José Antonio Román

The Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (IGIE) criticized the Attorney General's Office (PGR), saying it broke a confidentiality agreement with its ''unilateral" decision to disseminate the results of the latest study of the Cocula garbage dump, and that the report is only a preliminary one. This broke the rules, generated distrust and did not contribute to the clarification of the case, they accused.

''The political use of this issue shows a huge irresponsibility and very little sensitivity for the right to truth of the families, of Mexico and the world, for whom the Ayotzinapa case has become a reference,'' said the group experts. 

Members of IGIE insisted that this new expert study is inconclusive and does not resolve the questions which were raised regarding the possibility that 43 bodies were burned in the area, so that it only feeds public confusion on the subject.

''The report does not provide the answers requested of the experts, which invalidates what was presented by the PGR.''

At a press conference held in the auditorium of the Memory and Tolerance Museum, the IGIE expressed its deep regret of the decision by a ''top agency'' of the Mexican State, and especially the consequences it has for all of the process that had been patiently built and had dodged numerous difficulties, including allegations and accusations against the Group by those who are not interested in the true facts.

''There are sectors that want to block the investigation, focus the discussion back onto the garbage dump, fragment the investigation, ignore the other lines of inquiry or even try to close the case, '' warned the IGIE in a statement read alternately by the five members of the group.

First with the reading, and then in a long session of questions and answers, the group reported that IGIE will not continue working with the PGR on this specific issue of the expert study [of the possibilty of fire in the dump], although it has asked the prosecutor's office to convene a meeting with all the fire experts who collaborated in the study in order to clarify what happened.

''The group will not cooperate in this case with a process that does not comply with the agreements reached, international standards, and that will only contribute to confusion and discredit,'' their statement said.

However, the IGIE mentions that it has told government officials that it will fulfill the job for which it was convened, and will focus on the preparation of the final report of its second mandated work period, ending on 30 April, work with the victims and a final review of the [government's] investigation, as well of the [proposed] law on the disappearance of persons.

It accused whomever made this decision that they have contributed in a decisive manneer to the breakdown of trust around this work and have caused a new impact on the families [of the students].

"The right to know of the victims is the first objective of this work and the way this process has been conducted has increased their discomfort, vulnerability and uncertainty," the Group denounced.

It also considered that the first victim of this action are the spaces for dialogue and credibility built over this year between the institutions and victims, who have been a central part of the actions.

They felt that the public announcement made this week that genetic results from the University of Innsbruck will be delivered this week, an announcement made two days after the release [of the report] has spread concern among the families about the connection in time between these two events.

The IGIE said that recently it had decided not to make further public statements and to concentrate on writing its report, the management of the investigation files, working with the victims and the psychosocial study, and continuing to plan and carryout some procedures for searching for the disappeared students. However, the situation created by the government in recent days forced them to give their version of events.

They stated that they received the experts' report of the expert at noon on March 31, which was of a ''preliminary character'' and they were not notified of the decision of the PGR to make it public, when the press conference had already been called an hour earlier. Nor were they shown the statement that would be read. That is, making the experts' report public was not only ''unilateral'' but also against the position of IGIE, which had warned that a communication of something provisional and, therefore, not conclusive could not be made.

The experts pointed out that the PGR told them verbally that the message would be to report that it had not been determined whether or not it was possible to burn the bodies of 43 students and that additonal experimental studies were needed to assess fire dynamics and the amount of fuel needed for burning several bodies.

In addition, the IGIE warned that even at this point in time, they do not have the information on the degree of consensus reached by the group of experts who participated in drafting the expert report.
Spanish original