By Nancy Caouette
MEXICO CITY
The evidence collected against a former mayor and his wife is not enough to charge the couple with the execution of 43 students, according to a report published Thursday by a Mexican daily.
The evidence collected by the attorney general’s office includes a recording of police radio frequencies on Sept. 26 in which former Iguala Mayor Jose Luis Abarca gives orders to police to stop the arrival of the students in the city “in any possible way.”
In legal terms, the order cannot be considered one for execution but investigators are still searching for more evidence from Abarca and his wife, Maria de los Angeles Pineda Villa, according to La Jornada newspaper.
After more than three months of investigation, the attorney general’s office has yet to charge the couple with the Sept. 26 abduction of the 43 male students from Ayotzinapa College.
The “imperial couple,” – identified by authorities as the masterminds behind the abduction and believed murders, has been charged with presumed participation in organized crime, homicide and kidnapping. Six other individuals were shot and killed by police the same night in Iguala.
The case has uncovered deep connections between authorities and organized crime, and led to the resignation of the governor of the state of Guerrero.
National and international organization have demanded that the investigation be expanded beyond Abarca and Pineda Villa.
Three gang members detained in the investigation have admitted to killing then burning the students before dumping their remains in a nearby river.
