Mass grave found near Mexico town, police suspected

Human remains were pulled from at least four mass graves Sunday in the same area where 43 students went missing after a police shooting in the southern state of Guerrero, Mexico.

If the burned bodies that have been found in the mass graves since Saturday are confirmed to be the normalista teaching students missing since the September 26 shooting incidents, the discovery would be one of the worst massacres in recent history in Mexico.

“We have made visual contact, from afar so as not to interfere. We are cooperating with the work that is being done. The place is inaccessible. The road is two kilometres and the place is very difficult to reach,” said Juan Lopez Villanueva from the National Commission on Human Rights.

Iguala was the site of violent clashes last weekend. Police fired on student protesters. Six were reportedly killed while some students were last seen taken away in police cars. Twenty-two officers are being held in connection with the incident. Mexico’s Chief Prosecutor Tomas Zeron has sent a team to investigate. “The Mexican state cannot permit such an indignant incident to go unpunished,” Zeron announced at a press conference. Arrest warrants have been issued for the mayor of Iguala, Jose Luis Albarca, and his security chief.

Distraught relatives of missing students held rallies demanding information.

The authorities suspect police of links to drugs gangs. The extent to which police have been infiltrated by drugs cartels has been a major concern in Mexico and Guerrero state has become increasingly violent.

Agencies/Canadajournal