139th global action for Ayotzinapa: from the Angel of Independence to the Juárez Monument. Photo: Jorge Ángel Pablo García
Mexico City: Parents of the 43 missing students from the Ayotzinapa Teachers’ College in Guerrero stated that negotiations with the federal government have stalled, as five months have passed since the last meeting and there has been no progress in the investigation into the students’ whereabouts.
Isidoro Vicario, a member of the legal team representing the parents, lamented the lack of response to the points raised by the families of the missing students during their meeting with President Claudia Sheinbaum last November.
“Five months have passed. It was agreed that two months after the meeting we would meet again to address the demands, including the return of the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (IGIE) to Mexico to support the investigations into the Ayotzinapa case, the release of the Army files, which include clear evidence of the whereabouts of their children, and the resumption of the wiretapping of Army phone calls regarding the transfer of 17 students from the police station to the outskirts of Iguala. But they haven’t even formally given us a tentative date for another meeting with the President, because there probably isn’t any new information to give the parents, and that’s deplorable.”
This Sunday, the 139th Global Action for Ayotzinapa took place, where more than 250 people, according to Mexico City police figures, marched from the Angel of Independence to the Juárez Monument to demand the safe return of the students who disappeared in September 2014 in Iguala, Guerrero.
During the march, they chanted various slogans. Upon arriving at the Anti-monument to the 43 Disappeared Students, they held the traditional roll call of the missing students and remembered Daniel Solís, Julio César Nava, and Julio César Ramírez, who were murdered on the night of September 26th, 2014. They also mentioned Aldo Gutiérrez, who remains in a coma after being shot in the head.
At the Juárez Monument, Isidoro Vicario reiterated the urgent need for federal authorities to convene a new meeting with the parents. “For the federal government, maintaining a positive image of the country during the World Cup is a priority, but it relegates the issue of disappearances, homicides, and other social demands to a secondary concern.”
He added that they will not allow the Ayotzinapa case to go unpunished. “We are calling on organizations to attend a National People’s Assembly on May 9th at the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ College, where the activities to be carried out in the coming months will be planned.”
For her part, María de Jesús, the mother of one of the missing students, stated that they are waiting to be summoned to meet again with the federal government.
Original article by César Arellano García, La Jornada, April 26th, 2026.
Translated by Schools for Chiapas.