Former police official arrested over students' disappearance in Mexico

Mexico City, Nov 23 (IANS/EFE) A former deputy police chief and suspected member of the Guerreros Unidos ("United Warriors") drug cartel, that allegedly, is involved in the disappearance of 43 students in Mexico earlier this year, has been arrested, official sources said.

Cesar Nava Gonzalez, ex-deputy police chief of the town of Cocula, Guerrero went into hiding in Mexico City and later in Colima, from where he was arrested, Mexican attorney general's office said.

On Sep 26, 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Normal School, a teachers college, went missing in Iguala, in the state of Guerrero.

According to official reports, they had travelled to Iguala to protest against what they considered to be discriminatory hiring and funding practices by the Mexican government.

They were however, intercepted by the police and a confrontation ensued.

Details of what happened during and after the clash remain unclear, but the official investigation concluded that once the students were in custody, they were handed over to the local Guerreros Unidos crime syndicate and presumably killed.

The parents of the missing students however, have said that they would not accept that explanation without solid proof.

Protests over this apparent abduction and killing of the students in Mexico turned violent Thursday, as protesters blocked roads and hurled crude bombs at the police.

Family members of the missing students and trainees at the teachers college are to meet Saturday to plan their next step in the search for justice.

Mexican authorities have made dozens of arrests in the case, including detaining the purported head of the Guerreros Unidos cartel and the mayor of Iguala, whose town hall and police force had allegedly been infiltrated by organised crime.

--IANS/EFE

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