Ex-Governor Claims He Asked for Iguala Mayor's Arrest Before 43 Disappeared

Former Guerrero Governor Ángel Aguirre Rivero asserted during a hearing that he had requested the arrest of Iguala's former mayor, José Luis Abarca Velázquez, three months prior to the 2014 disappearance of 43 students. Aguirre contends that if Abarca had been detained for his alleged connections to the criminal group Guerreros Unidos, the tragic events of September 26-27, 2014, in Iguala would have been averted.

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Review how the state government asked the PGR delegate three months earlier to arrest José Luis Abarca; if that had happened, the Iguala events would not have occurred.

Aguirre told control judge Mario Elizondo Martínez that he first raised the issue with the delegate of the now-defunct Attorney General's Office (PGR) and later personally approached then-Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam, who is currently under house arrest for the Ayotzinapa case. "Review how the state government asked the PGR delegate three months earlier to arrest José Luis Abarca; if that had happened, the Iguala events would not have occurred," Aguirre stated.

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I asked Jesús Murillo Karam personally to arrest Abarca to avoid the impeachment process at the local level, but Murillo told me he was going to have surgery on his throat and that he would ask Mariana Benítez.

According to Aguirre, Murillo Karam responded that he was scheduled for throat surgery and would pass the request to Mariana Benítez Treviño, then deputy prosecutor for Legal and International Affairs at the PGR. Aguirre also challenged the Federal Attorney General's Office (FGR) representatives to prove their claims that his campaign was financed by criminal groups and that cartels like La Familia Michoacana, Los Beltrán Leyva, Los Rojos, and Guerreros Unidos operated during his governorship.

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I have never in my life had ties to organized crime. My conscience is clear. I have not sat down with, nor have I had meetings with, organized crime.

"I have never in my life had ties to organized crime. My conscience is clear. I have not sat down with, nor have I had meetings with, organized crime," the former governor declared. He also rejected any animosity towards the students of the Raúl Isidro Burgos Rural Normal School of Ayotzinapa, highlighting that his administration provided funding for renovations and food scholarships for the institution.

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I would like to tell you where your children are, but I do not have that information. If I knew, I would have told you already. Six years ago I lost a son, and if I knew where the young people were, I would have told you that, be absolutely certain. 12 years have been like carrying a slab.