Governor Ángel Aguirre Rivero requested a leave of absence following public pressure from his party, the Party of the Democratic Revolution, The New York Times reports. The leave of absence is a de facto resignation.
The 43 students from Ayotzinapa Rural Normal School were detained in a “violent crackdown” by police in the city of Iguala on Sept. 26 before being given over to the Guerreros Unidos criminal group.
In an Oct. 22 press conference, Mexican Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam said that Sidronio Casarrubias Salgado, a captured Guerreros Unidos leader, identified María de los Ángeles Pineda Villa, the wife of Iguala Mayor José Luis Abarca Velázquez, as “the main criminal operator from City Hall.”
Links between local government and drug cartels continue to be a major issue in Mexico. Controversy over the missing students has overshadowed recent high-profile arrests made by Mexican authorities. Iguala’s city hall and the state capitol have both been set on fire by people protesting the government’s role in the student’s disappearance and demanding Aguirre Rivero’s resignation, according to The New York Times.
According to Casarrubias Salgado, Guerreros Unidos was regularly receiving payments of US$ 150,000-220,000 from the mayor’s office, much of which was used to bribe local police. The mayor, his wife, and Chief of Police Felipe Flores Velázquez are now wanted fugitives.
The fate of the students, who were going to protest an event held by the mayor and his wife, is still unknown. Multiple mass graves were found near Iguala, however, DNA testing of the remains has yet to link any of the bodies to the missing students. Murillo Karam said that, according to Casarrubias Salgado, the students were brought near the home of a Guerreros Unidos member known as “El Gil.” Nine graves were found at this site, but the bodies are still unidentified.
The Guerrero State Congress has appointed Salvador Rogelio Ortega Martínez, a professor and administrator from the Autonomous University of Guerrero, to serve for one year as acting governor, reports CNN Mexico.
