MEXICO CITY — Nearly six years after 43 college students disappeared in rural Mexico, the government announced the first major breakthrough in its investigation on Tuesday: Forensic scientists have identified the remains of one of the students.
Bone fragments found near where the students disappeared have been tested by Institute of Genetics at the University of Innsbruck, in Austria, and identified as the remains of Christian Alfonso Rodríguez Telumbre, one of the students, said Omar Gómez Trejo, the special prosecutor assigned to the case. He added that forensic experts from Argentina had confirmed the findings.
The discovery marked a fresh sign of progress toward solving a case that traumatized Mexico and became a symbol of rampant corruption in the country’s justice system. It has long been assumed that the missing students were killed, and various people in authority have been implicated, but no one has been put on trial and the motive remains a mystery.
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“We have broken the pact of impunity and silence that surrounded” the case, Mr. Trejo said at a news conference. He added, “today we tell the families and society that the right to the truth will prevail.”
The discovery was a victory for President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who had promised to prioritize the investigations — and who desperately needs a political boost amid a plummeting economy, soaring crime and a coronavirus pandemic that continues to worsen in Mexico.
The announcement came on the eve of Mr. López Obrador’s visit with President Trump in Washington — a trip for which the Mexican president was roundly criticized at home, because of the American president’s harsh language about Mexico and Mexicans.
Source: Bone Fragments in Mexico Identified as Belonging to One of 43 Missing Students
