Suspected drug cartel boss linked to 43 missing students arrested in Mexico

A suspected drug cartel boss allegedly involved in a decade-old disappearance 43 students was arrested in Mexico after being released from prison in 2019, authorities said Friday.

Gildardo Lopez Astudillo, alias “El Gil”, is an alleged leader of the Guerreros Unidos cartel, who is accused of being behind the disappearance and suspected murders of the students of Ayotzinapa’s teacher training college in 2014.

Lopez Astudillo was arrested in September 2015 in the southern city of Taxco, in the state of Guerrero, about 34 kilometers (21 miles) north of the city of Iguala, from where the students disappeared.

“Gildardo Lopez Astudillo has been arrested,” a federal security service source with knowledge of the case told reporters Friday, asking not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Lopez Astudillo has been transferred to the Mexican state’s Altiplano maximum security prison, the source said.

He was arrested on suspicion of “organised crime” but the investigation could be expanded, the source said.

In September 2014, the 43 students were on their way to a political demonstration in Mexico City. Detectives suspect they were kidnapped by a drug cartel working with corrupt police.

The exact circumstances of their disappearance remain unknown, but a government-appointed truth commission has labeled the case a “state crime,” with the military sharing responsibility, either directly or through negligence.

Dozens of suspects have been arrested or ordered arrested, including military personnel. In 2022, federal agents arrested former Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karamwho oversaw the original investigation.

Lopez Astudillo was released in 2019, a decision condemned by relatives of the missing students, who were convicted by a judge who ruled that the evidence against him had been obtained illegally.

His arrest comes as relatives prepare demonstrations to mark the anniversary of the students’ disappearance.

The 43 missing male students are believed to have been murdered and burned by drug gang members.

Authorities have been able to identify burned bone fragments from only a few of the 43 missing students. Much of the work has been focused on finding clandestine dumping grounds for corpses in rural, isolated parts of the state where drug cartels operate. In October, officials conducted DNA testing to determine whether some students were part of the 28 Charred Bodies Found in Freshly Covered Mass Graves.