Mexican authorities announced that they have apprehended an alleged leader of the cartel connected to the decade-long disappearance of numerous students. Gildardo Lopez Astudillo, also known as “El Gil”, was detained on charges of organized crime and taken to Mexico’s maximum-security prison in south-central Mexico, according to a federal security source cited by Reuters news agency.
This is not the first time Lopez Astudillo has been imprisoned since his alleged cartel was accused of orchestrating the disappearance and suspected murder in 2014 of 43 students in Iguala. The case, which shook the nation and sparked years of protests, had its roots in 2014 when a group of 43 students who were traveling to a political demonstration in Mexico City went missing. It is believed that they were kidnapped by the Guerreros Unido drug cartel, along with corrupt police.
The exact circumstances of their disappearance are still unknown, but a truth commission established by the government has characterized the case as a “state crime,” holding the military accountable for their role, either directly or through negligence. Arrests have been made or ordered for dozens of suspects, including military personnel and a former attorney general who oversaw an investigation into the mass disappearance.
Lopez Astudillo was previously arrested in 2015 but released in 2019 after a judge found that the evidence against him was obtained illegally. He later cooperated with the prosecution as a protected witness, providing alleged details about the cartel’s involvement in the students’ disappearance, according to El Pais newspaper. The arrest comes as relatives prepare to mark the 10th anniversary of the students’ disappearance.
Source: Aljazeera
