Mexico: Prosecutor Investigating Missing Students Case Resigns

Facts

• Mexico's Pres. Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced on Tuesday that Omar Gómez Trejo, the special prosecutor leading the Attorney General's (AG) office's investigation into the disappearance of 43 students in 2014, has resigned.
• On Sept. 26, 2014, the students — from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College in the southwestern Guerrero state — went missing after a clash with municipal police. So far, only the remains of three group members have been identified, and, last month, a truth commission faulted military personnel for the disappearance.
• Gómez Trejo reportedly left the post due to disagreements with the procedures followed by the AG's office, which has been criticized for canceling arrest orders and allegedly leaking sensitive portions of the Truth Commission report.
• This comes a day after victims' families expressed their confidence in Gómez Trejo and called for AG Alejandro Gertz Manero's resignation in a march to commemorate the eighth anniversary of the crime.
• Despite enjoying the autonomy to order wiretaps and investigate several crimes, Gómez Trejo has allegedly been sidelined by the AG's office, which is believed to have been conducting a parallel investigation.
• Meanwhile, on Tuesday, lawyers for members of Mexico's military in custody on charges of involvement with the crime declared they would start legal action against the director of the Truth Commission, Alejandro Encinas.

Sources: Mexico Daily Post, Al Jazeera, DW, Washington Post, ABC, and BBC News.

Narratives

• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Newstdy. The resignation of Gómez Trejo adds to the massive confusion created by the López Obrador administration in its attempt to deny the "historical truth" about the missing 43 students. So far, this new investigation has failed to find any substantial evidence and has instead focused on promoting persecution against public servants, military personnel, and media.
• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Mexico Today. Though Gómez Trejo was a symbol of the López Obrador administration's efforts to finally reveal the truth about what happened to the 43 missing students, setbacks were expected from the start due to the original investigation and political interests related to this crime. Breakthroughs have already been made, and soon the truth will be revealed.
• Cynical narrative, as provided by Mexico News Daily. Gómez Trejo's resignation exposes a rupture within the ongoing probe. Without clear guidelines on who and what to investigate, internal disputes between prosecutors will only lead to anger and compromise the investigation.