Mexican student linked to protest in presidential palace murdered by police

By Jorge Antonio Rocha

MEXICO CITY (AA) - Two students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College, the same school from where 43 students were forcefully disappeared in 2014, were shot by police officers in Guerrero, southwestern Mexico, on Friday, leaving one dead and one injured.

The murder of 23-year-old student Rothan Gomez Peralta occurred two days after students from the Ayotzinapa school and supporters of the families of the 43 disappeared students knocked down a door of the presidential palace, demanding justice from President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

"It is very unfortunate that this situation has arisen one day after a protest was held at the national palace," said Lopez Obrador during his morning briefing on Friday.

According to state authorities, the students were caught driving a stolen car in Chilpancingo, Guerrero, and when the police tried to stop them, the young men allegedly fired at the patrol car, leading to the shooting that resulted in the death of Peralta.

Lopez Obrador asserted that the altercation between police and students was not related to Wednesday's protest at the National Palace.

"However, these are different things because what unfortunately happened in Chilpancingo was two young men in a car, and the police of Guerrero claim in their declarations that it was a stolen car."

So far, there is no evidence to support the statements of the Guerrero police. According to the president, the second student wounded in the shooting is in stable condition.

The two students are part of the "Raul Isidro Burgos" teacher training school, the same school of the 43 students who were taken in September 2014 by members of organized crime, local police, and the Mexican military.

Almost ten years after the disappearance, the families of the 43 students are yet to receive justice. So far, only the charred remains of the three students have been found and identified.

As a campaign promise, Lopez Obrador promised to solve the case if elected president. Investigations led by his administration concluded that the Mexican military was complicit, leading the Mexican government to recognize the mass disappearance as a "State crime."

Since then, relatives of the 43 disappeared and students from the teachers' college have denounced that the Lopez Obrador government has hindered the investigation to protect the military.

On Feb. 26, relatives and supporters of the 43 missing students set up an encampment outside the National Palace, asking to meet with the president. After ten days of being ignored, some protesters broke a door of the national palace while the president was giving his morning conference.