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Mexican colonel accused of ordering execution of 6 of the 43 Ayotzinapa students

It’s been an extraordinary week in the infamous 2014 case of 43 students who were disappeared in southern Mexico, and Friday brought one more bombshell.

Since late last week, a government reportacknowledged the Ayotzinapa case was a crime of state, a former attorney general was arrested, and dozens of arrest warrants were issued for soldiers and other security personnel.

And then this Friday, human rights undersecretary Alejandro Encinas announced another high profile suspect: the then-Col. José Rodríguez Pérez.

Authorities believe that six of the students were still alive up to four days after the long and bloody September night nearly eight years ago, according to Encinas. Then, Rodríguez allegedly gave the order to execute and disappear them.

He was reportedlythe commander of the Mexican Army’s 27th Infantry Battalion in Iguala, Guerrero at the time of the disappearances.

Murphy Woodhouse was a senior field correspondent at KJZZ from 2018 to 2023.