Ex-Guerrero governor Ángel Aguirre to stand trial in Ayotzinapa case

A judge has ordered former Guerrero Governor Ángel Aguirre to stand trial for his alleged role in the 2014 disappearance of 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers College. Aguirre, who resigned about a month after the students vanished in Iguala, is accused of ordering the concealment and destruction of security camera footage that showed a bus carrying the students being stopped by police Source: Mexico News Daily. The judge ruled that prosecutors presented sufficient evidence to proceed on charges of enforced disappearance, and Aguirre remains in preventive detention at the Altiplano federal prison Source: The Guardian.

The allegations

Aguirre is accused of receiving video footage from cameras outside the State Palace of Justice in Iguala on Sept. 29, 2014, and then ordering its destruction. The Federal Attorney General's Office (FGR) says he concealed "highly relevant information" related to the investigation Source: Mexico News Daily. The students were abducted after police allegedly handed them over to a local crime gang; only three of the 43 have been identified Source: The Guardian.

The defense

Aguirre's lawyers argue he was not in Guerrero at the time the footage was allegedly delivered, citing a meeting in Mexico City with then-Interior Minister Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong. They presented 31 pieces of evidence, but the judge found their arguments "not objective" and insufficient to exonerate him Source: Mexico News Daily. Defense lawyer Guillermo Baradas insisted: "We presented evidence demonstrating a high-level meeting attended by Mr Ángel Aguirre at the time the videos were allegedly handed over to him" Source: The Guardian.

What's next

Prosecutors have four months to continue their investigation, meaning the earliest trial could begin in December. If convicted, Aguirre faces up to 60 years in prison Source: Mexico News Daily. The case is seen as a major breakthrough since the 2022 arrest of former Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam Source: The Guardian. President Claudia Sheinbaum has vowed to pursue truth and justice, and an investigative unit was formed last year Source: The Guardian.