By Nancy Caouette
MEXICO CITY
More than 4,000 scholars, academics and students from across the globe signed a letter addressed to Mexican authorities, including the president, demanding the return of students missing since late last month.
In the letter, whose signatories include Noam Chomsky, Edgardo Buscaglia and Alicia Schmidt Camacho, the academics express their concern and outrage after police opened fire during a Sept. 26 student protest in the town of Iguala that resulted in six deaths and 43 missing students.
“There are no words to express the horror and fury that we feel at the murder of six people … and by the disappearance, at the hands of the government and the local police, of another 43 students,” read the letter.
The signatories assert that they are ‘’profoundly indignant’’ that the investigation by the Mexican government shows some ‘’irregularities,’’ a reference to the discovery of a number of mass graves near Iguala.
‘’What is the size and number of mass graves in this country, how many more bodies fit in them, how many await the same fate?’’ the letter asked, adding that ‘’the reality that Mexico is displaying before the world is truly disheartening.’’
The letter lists six demands including the arrest of the Iguala’s mayor and his wife, following documents and accounts that suggest the couple’s involvement in the disappearance of the students. It also ask for the resignations of the country’s Attorney General, Jesús Murillo Karam, and the governor of Guerrero state, Ángel Aguirre Rivero.
Relatives of the 43 missing students meet representatives from national authorities earlier last week. Following the meeting, a lawyer representing families looking for the students, told local media that federal representatives acknowledged errors were made during the exhumation and identification of human remains found in the mass graves.
In an attempt to expedite the investigation, the government is offering a reward of $110,000 for every missing student returned. A total of $4.7 million for all 43 students. A $110,000 is also being offered for information leading to the capture of those responsible.
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