The News
Thursday 28 of March 2024

The Empire of Smoke


Protest in Mexico City,photo: Notimex/Javier Lira Otero
Protest in Mexico City,photo: Notimex/Javier Lira Otero
The smoke of Cocula does not just blind our eyes, but also the sense of national shame

I recognize that the world is living in an era in which the threshold of horror increases with each month, attack, brutality and scandal.

However, the scene does not diminish the fact that Mexicans continue to want the best for their country.

The good thing is that, on one hand, we can recognize that the news about our economy has been more positive than expected. But on the other hand, we have to prepare ourselves to continue to see the national and international scandal that the unending Ayotzinapa story has turned into.

Because now with the third expert report done by the Independent Experts Interdisciplinary Group (GIEI) at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH), the problem far from being cleared up, has become more complicated for various reasons.

First, because the families of the disappeared students don’t accept the painful explanation that their children disappeared in the Cocula landfill.

And secondly, because when the first CIDH expert report was made public, the president’s instructions on Twitter for attorney Arely Gómez to collaborate with the GIEI, did not only generate suspicion, but also gave way to a very paradoxical situation.

In this sense, the distrust that we have in authorities makes sense, however, there was never a guarantee that the experts were going to reach definite conclusions which would change the line of work that they had been following.

In effect, that didn’t happen, because after the GIEI gave their first report, the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) was ordered to work together with them.

Now, with the divorce of these two organizations, not only do we lack a conclusive report that would allow us to know if former attorney Jesús Murillo lied or not, but we also have facts for a reality that is not definite and that throws more fuel to the fire of our distrust for authorities.

But in any case, the worst thing that came out of this is our contribution to the world horror ranking.

Only in some violent states, like ISIS, and in states like those in Africa where the leaders have been judged by the International Penal Court, is it possible to live with the fact that 43 citizens got onto a bus, were tortured, murdered, burnt and finally disappeared.

Today the smoke of Cocula does not just blind our eyes, but also the sense of national shame, making the need to find an plausible explanation for the situation more important.