Mexico: Mayor linked to deadly student attack

[Judi Lynn]

Mexico: Mayor linked to deadly student attack
Associated Press 1:18 p.m. MST October 22, 2014

MEXICO CITY — The mayor of a town in southern Mexico ordered a police attack that resulted in six deaths and the disappearance of 43 students who remain missing weeks later, the country's top prosecutor said Wednesday.

Iguala police received an order that they said came from Mayor Jose Luis Abarca to prevent the students from disrupting an event at which his wife was presenting a report, Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam told reporters.

Murillo Karam said Abarca's wife has been linked to drug gangs and is now considered a fugitive, along with her husband and the Iguala police chief.

He added that authorities have discovered a total of nine mass graves in the area around Iguala that contain 30 bodies, two more than previously reported.

More:
http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/world/2014/10/22/mexico-student-attack-mayor/17732829/

Video at link.

[Judi Lynn]

1. Missing Mexico students: Iguala mayor arrest ordered

22 October 2014 Last updated at 17:58 ET
Missing Mexico students: Iguala mayor arrest ordered


[font size=1]
The students were last seen being bundled into police cars on 26 September[/font]

Mexico's government has ordered the arrest of the mayor of the southern town of Iguala, where six people died and 43 students disappeared after clashing with local police last month.

Mexico's chief prosecutor said Mayor Jose Luis Abarca ordered the police operation, to stop the students disrupting an event hosted by his wife.

The couple are said to be on the run.

The protesting students were last seen being bundled into police cars after the clashes on 26 September.

Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said Mr Abarca, his wife Maria de los Angeles Pineda and police chief Felipe Flores were wanted "as the individuals who likely organised the events that took place in Iguala on 26 September".

He also alleged that Ms Pineda had links to a local drug gang Guerreros Unidos (United Warriors).

More:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-29732720

[Judi Lynn]

2. Mexican mayor and wife wanted over disappearance of 43 students

Mexican mayor and wife wanted over disappearance of 43 students

Students went missing from Iguala in the south-western state of Guerrero after clashing with police in September

Reuters in Mexico City
The Guardian, Thursday 23 October 2014 03.42 EDT

A Mexican mayor and his wife were the “probable masterminds” behind the disappearance of 43 student teachers last month, the country’s attorney general has said as he issued arrest warrants for the pair.
The students went missing on 26 September from Iguala in the south-western state of Guerrero after they clashed with police. The incident sent shockwaves across Mexico and undermined President Enrique Peña Nieto’s claims that Mexico is getting safer under his watch.

So far, federal authorities have arrested 52 people in connection with the incident, including dozens of police with links to a gang called Guerreros Unidos, or United Warriors. The gang’s leader, Sidronio Casarrubias, was caught last week.

Thousands marched in Iguala on Wednesday to protest against the disappearance of the student teachers. After the march, masked men set fire to the municipal offices with Molotov cocktails and smashed the windows.

In Mexico City, the attorney general, Jesus Murillo, said Casarrubias had told prosecutors that Iguala mayor, José Luis Abarca, and his wife, María de los Ángeles Pineda, had ordered two local police forces to stop the students from disrupting a political event that day.

More:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/23/mexican-mayor-disappearance-students-iguala