Activist in search for Mexico missing students killed

Activist in search for Mexico missing students killed
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2015/08/11/424233/Mexico-Miguel-Angel-Jimenez-Bruno-Placido-Guerrero-Iguala-Xaltianguis
Tue Aug 11, 2015 8:38AM

The AFP photo shows late Miguel Angel Jimenez, the leader of a group searching for 43 missing students during a search in the community of Pueblo Viejo, October 8, 2014.

A prominent Mexican political activist, who played a major role in the search for the controversial disappearance of 43 missing students and a number of other similar cases, has been found dead in Mexico.

On Monday, the Union of Towns and Organizations (UPOEG)’s leader Bruno Placido confirmed that Miguel Angel Jimenez, a member of his group, had been shot dead over the weekend.

Reports say the bullet-ridden body of Jimenez had been found in a car on the outskirts of his hometown of Xaltianguis, where he had helped establish a community police program.

He played a key role in the organization of searches for 43 students who went missing last September in the state of Guerrero’s Iguala city after being reportedly detained by corrupt police officials.

Parents and relatives of the 43 missing students from Ayotzinapa participate in a protest in Acapulco, Guerrero State, Mexico, March 24, 2015. (© AFP)

The Guerreros Unidos drug cartel has confessed to killing and burning the remains of the students after receiving them from gang-linked police forces. The families of the victims, though, remain suspicious of the account.

Jimenez, the activist whose body has been found, also led search efforts for hundreds of missing Iguala residents until late last year, before he began to work behind the scenes by providing information on the cases.

Disappearances & graves

Last month, the country’s attorney general’s office confirmed that at least 60 graves containing some 129 bodies had been found on the outskirts of Iguala so far.

Official figures show that more than 35,000 people are currently missing in Mexico due to violence. Thousands of people have also been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico over the past few years.

The late activist had formerly said that he had received death threats by “people who are involved in things and whose interests I have impacted.”

He had continued his activities unimpeded.