Lopez Obrador announces probe into disappearance of 43 students as he promises an end to culture of impunity.
Mexico's new President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has signed his first decree creating a truth commission to investigate the kidnapping of 43 students in an apparent massacre, which remains one of the country's most notorious unsolved crimes.
Lopez Obrador announced the move during a press conference on Monday, two days after being sworn in as president, fulfilling a campaign promise made in September to re-examine the incident.
The student teachers from a rural teachers' training college in Ayotzinapa disappeared after police intercepted them in the town of Iguala while on their way to a protest in September 2014.
Three were shot and killed by police in Iguala, while the others escaped in two buses. Both vehicles were later stopped by police, but while one group was let go, the others have not been seen or heard from since.
Posing with the parents of the missing young people, who displayed photos of their loved ones, the 65-year-old president, popularly known by his initials AMLO, promised an end to impunity and a wide-ranging investigation.
"The whole government is going to help with this plan and I can assure you that there will be no impunity either in this sad and painful case or in any other," he told reporters.
"I hope that we will soon know the truth. That there's justice and an example is set so never again human rights are violated in our country, so that no other Mexican suffers the disappearance of their children."
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The new commission will include the parents of the 43 students, their lawyers and representatives from the interior, foreign and finance ministries, along with experts and specialists required for the investigation.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/12/mexico-president-forms-truth-commission-missing-students-181204060357515.html