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After critiques and revelations, top Mexican official defends Ayotzinapa investigation

After major questions were raised about the Mexican government’s investigation of a mass disappearance of students, a top official said Sunday that the search for truth continues.

In late October, the New York Times publisheda bombshell report that cast doubt on key evidence used by the government truth commission investigating the Ayotzinapa case to declare the disappearance of 43 education students a crime of state.

Several days later, a highly respected group of international experts affirmeddoubts about the authenticity of text message screenshots that — among other things — implicated members of the Mexican military in the crime.

Now, commission head Alejandro Encinas, who confirmed to the Times that many of the messages could not be authenticated, is defendingthe investigation.

In spite of what he described as the coordinated efforts of those seeking silence and impunity, Encinas said, “we will not be distracted from our fundamental task: we want to know what happened, find the young men and for there be justice.”

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