Thousands of protesters gathered in Mexico City on Saturday to demand answers about the Ayotzinapa missing students.
The 43 trainee teachers disappeared 12 years ago after traveling from Guerrero state to Mexico City.
Many protesters wore red and carried symbolic coffins during the demonstration. The march was led by relatives of the missing students.
Families Demand Answers About Ayotzinapa Missing Students
The parents of the 43 trainees led the procession toward Mexico City’s main square.
The square sits in front of the National Palace, where the government operates.
Protesters repeatedly counted to 43 to honor each missing student.
One banner carried a powerful message: “Because they were taken alive, we want them back alive.”
For the families, the protest remains a demand for truth and accountability.
“Another year of strain, of exhaustion, of hopelessness,” parent Estanislao Mendoza told AFP.
He said families want to know what happened, whether the students are alive or dead.
After 12 years, relatives continue to demand information about their whereabouts.
Mexico President to Present New Case Report
President Claudia Sheinbaum is expected to present a report on Monday.
The report will outline the latest progress in the investigation into the disappearance.
The attorney general’s office has conducted an extensive review of evidence linked to the case.
Sheinbaum has also regularly met with families of people who disappeared in Mexico.
The latest report could provide new information about one of the country’s most closely watched disappearance cases.
What Happened to the 43 Trainee Teachers?
The students disappeared on September 26, 2014, in the city of Iguala, Guerrero.
They were traveling toward Mexico City when local police stopped them.
Six people died during a series of clashes that lasted for hours. The 43 students then disappeared.
Prosecutors initially claimed that police officers handed the students to members of a drug cartel.
Authorities said the cartel members killed the students, burned their bodies and disposed of their remains in a river.
However, independent human rights experts later rejected key parts of that explanation.
As a result, the case remains unresolved.
Arrests Renew Attention on the Ayotzinapa Case
Authorities have continued to investigate officials allegedly linked to the case.
A former governor was arrested in August over accusations involving the deletion of security footage from the crime scene in Iguala.
Mexico also arrested the former state attorney general in 2022.
Despite those arrests, families continue to demand more answers.
They say years of investigations have failed to provide a clear account of what happened to the 43 students.
Mexico Faces Wider Disappearance Crisis
The Ayotzinapa missing students case has also become a symbol of Mexico’s wider disappearance crisis.
More than 134,000 people are listed as disappeared across the country.
Atanacio Pina, 69, said the government must recognize the scale of the problem.
His own missing son was eventually found dead.
“It’s necessary to support a struggle against the indifference of a government that refuses to accept that there is a disappearance crisis,” Pina said.
For the families of the 43 students, the search continues.
They say they will keep demanding the truth until they know what happened to every missing trainee teacher.
