Mexico City, April 13 (teleSUR-RHC) The Mexican Federal Police announced the arrest on Saturday of one of the main suspects in the disappearance of 43 teacher training students were disappeared on Sept. 26 following a protest in the southern Mexican town of Iguala.
According to authorities, Miguel Angel Landa Bahena has been identified as a member of Gildardo Lopez Astudillo, also known as “El Gil’s” inner circle. Lopez Astudillo is suspected of being the leader of the Guerreros Unidos gang, who Mexican authorities say killed the students and burned their remains in a garbage dump.
Another three suspects in the case confessed to having killed the students and subsequently burned their bodies. Early this year former Mexico's attorney general, Jesus Murillo Karam, said the government had enough physical and forensic evidence to conclude that the students were killed and incinerated, although family members and some forensic experts have contested this version of events.
To date, Alexander Mora is the only student whose remains have been identified.
Dozens of suspects, including public servants and Jose Luis Abarca, the former Mayor of Iguala, have been arrested in connection with the disappearance of the Ayotzinapa students, who went missing after municipal police officers opened fire on their bus convoy. The United Nations has condemned the Mexican government for how it has handled the case, saying it could have done more given the severity of the situation.
Although the case was closed by authorities, families, classmates, and rights groups have demanded to open other lines of investigation, including the role of the army and federal police in the attack and disappearance of the students.