Mexico marks Wednesday, Sept. 26, four years since the disappearance of 43 missing Ayotzinapa students, as relatives and friends continue searching for their loved ones with almost no help from Mexican authorities.

They have repeatedly refused to believe the official narrative that the students were kidnapped by Iguala police on the command of Mayor Jose Luis Abarca Velazquez and handed to the Guerreros Unidos (United Warriors) drug cartel, which the government insists then executed them.

Instead, the families maintain their claim that the military was involved and that the government constructed the narrative to protect an already-discredited institution that has murdered thousands over the years with almost total impunity. Students from the Raul Isidro Burgos Rural Teachers’ School who survived the attack say they were denied help by Federal Police and military personnel at the scene, who said they "deserved it."

On Sept. 20 this year, students from the Raul Isidro Burgos Rural Teachers’ School of Ayotzinapa attacked the 27th Infantry Battalion of Iguala with Molotov cocktails, rocks and firecrackers. The event was recorded and shared on social media, prompting both support and condemnation.

Relatives of the missing students have demanded the federal government let them enter the barracks, which is where they believe the students were taken after being kidnapped. In 2015, after multiple petitions were ignored, they forced entry into the barracks but were escorted out before they found any evidence. Students from Ayotzinapa attack the 27th Infantry Battalion in Iguala. September 20, 2018. Photo | EFE Among the few clues […]

This story is part of our ‘News from Around the Web’ publication, continue reading the story here: Ayotzinapa 43: Four Years After The Crime That Shocked Mexico