Eight years after Mexico was shocked by the disappearance of 43 students at the hands of police officers, the often-fraught investigation was finally showing signs of progress.
A truth commission formed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador released a report in August detailing a widespread operation that targeted the teacher-trainees. It called the attack — one of Mexico’s most notorious human rights atrocities of the past 40 years — a “state crime” in which federal and state officials, along with the army, either participated in the attack or failed to intervene.
Both the report from the commission, and a separate one from international experts sponsored by the Inter-American Human Rights Commission released last month, pointed an accusing finger at the army, which has been an important ally of López Obrador since he took office in late 2018.