43 Students Mexico Update: Iguala Mayor And Wife Allegedly Arrested Over Disappearances

This morning elements of the Mexican Federal Police, the spokesman for that force, Jose Ramon Salinas, and officials from the Mexico's Attorney General's Office confirmed they have arrested former mayor of Iguala, Luis Abarca, and his wife, María de los Ángeles Pineda in the neighborhood of Iztapalapa in Mexico City. According to preliminary reports, the former mayor and his wife are being held as main suspects responsible for the disappearance of the 43 students from Ayotzinapa last Sepetmeber 26. It’s been said that the residence the couple was renting only had one bed and a television.

Former mayor Luis Abarca is being investigated for being the person who ordered the attack on the ‘normalistas’ and his wife, on the other hand, is being investigated for operating the criminal organization “Guerreros Unidos” responsible for the attack as well. So far, more than 50 people have been arrested in the case, including municipal police from Iguala and the neighboring town of Cocula.

The ‘Imperial Couple’ as the pair is being called, are now providing their statements at the organized crime investigation center or ‘Subprocuraduría Especializada en Investigación de Delincuencia Organizada’ (SEIDO).

As reported last month, a member of the ‘Guerreros Unidos’ gang, Sidronio Casarrubias, was also detained and told the authorities, Abarca picked the new entrants of the police forces and even received hefty amounts of money from the cartel.

People in all over Mexico remain skeptical of the arrest, as no photos of the detainees have been shown and no real proof has been presented. Additionally, most believe that the no matter how many criminals are arrested, the case will continue to be unresolved until the students have been found, dead or alive.