Mexico City, July 18 (RHC)-- An inquiry published in Mexico over the weekend has revealed that there is virtually no physical evidence to support the Mexican government's version of the 2014 disappearance of 43 students traveling by bus to Mexico City.  Government officials insist that a drug gang kidnapped the students at gunpoint, killed them and burned the bodies at a dump-site near the southwestern town of Iguala.  But the report, based on forensic records requested by the Associated Press, revealed no signs of a fire on the night in question.

Instead, the notes of a forensic examination of the Cocula dump-site in Guerrero state in western Mexico shows that investigators could not confirm a fire on the night that the students vanished on September 26, 2014. The AP obtained the documents under a freedom of information request permissible under Mexican law,          

The government's handling of the case has triggered massive protests that include parents and friends of the students, trade unions and grassroots organizations who believe that law-enforcement authorities are complicit in the slayings of the 43 students, who had effectively stolen a bus, ironically enough, to attend the commemoration of a 1968 police massacre of students.

The case has marred the administration of President Enrique Peña Nieto, who took office promising to reduce violence, curb corruption, and stop human rights abuses in the country.