IGUALA, Mexico — The day 43 students disappeared in this southern Mexican town, the mayor’s wife was giving a speech on family social services.
Tough-looking civilians guarded Maria de los Angeles Pineda Villa, a woman with alleged family ties to organized crime. A police force that state and federal officials accuse of being infiltrated by drug gangs patrolled the streets.
Into this combustible mix came students from a rural teacher’s college that had defied drug cartel extortion in the past. Well-known for blocking highways and other protests, they arrived with plans to solicit donations from passers-by.
Many never made it home after the Sept. 26 police attack that killed six and injured at least 25. DNA tests are being conducted to determine if some of the students are among 28 charred bodies found last weekend in freshly covered mass graves.
Iguala Mayor Jose Luis Abarca is now a fugitive, and state officials have arrested 22 city officers. His wife’s whereabouts are unknown.
President Enrique Pena Nieto ordered a special federal police force to take over Iguala as his top security officials rushed to contain a smear on the image of stability and falling crime rates that they’ve projected to the world.
Guerrero state’s chief prosecutor, Inaky Blanco, said suspects have testified that as many as 30 members of the local police force were members of the Guerreros Unidos drug gang.
“We’ve lived with threats for decades, but nothing like this had ever happened,” said a professor from the college who fears reprisals.
