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A massacre in Mexico : the true story behind the missing forty-three students / Anabel Hernández ; translated with an introduction by John Washington.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextLanguage: English Original language: Spanish Publisher: London ; Brooklyn, New York : Verso, 2018Copyright date: ©2018Description: xxviii, 404 pages : map ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781788731485
  • 1788731484
  • 1788735366
  • 9781788735360
Uniform titles:
  • Verdadera noche de Iguala. English
Subject(s): LOC classification:
  • HV6322.3.M6 H4713 2018
Summary: "The definitive account of the mass disappearance of 43 Mexican students and the government that tried to cover it up. On September 26, 2014, 43 male students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College went missing in Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico. According to official reports, the students commandeered several buses to travel to Mexico City to commemorate the anniversary of the 1968 Tlatelolco Massacre. During the journey, local police intercepted the students and a confrontation ensued. By the morning, they had disappeared without a trace. Hernández reconstructs almost minute-by-minute the events of those nights in late September 2014, giving us what is surely the most complete picture available: her sources are unparalleled, since she has secured access to internal government documents that have not been made public, and to video surveillance footage the government has tried to hide and destroy. Hernández demolishes the Mexican state's official version, which the Peña Nieto government cynically dubbed the "historic truth." State officials at all levels, from police and prosecutors to the upper echelons of the PRI administration, conspired to put together a fake case, concealing or manipulating evidence, and arresting and torturing dozens of "suspects" who then obliged with full "confessions" that matched the official lie. In the wake of the students' disappearances, protestors in Mexico took up the slogan "Fue el estado"--"It was the state." Hernández's book is the one that gives most precision and credibility to the claim: by following the role of the various Mexican state agencies through the events in such remarkable detail, she allows to see exactly which parts of the state are responsible for which component of this monumental crime"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Current library Collection Call number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Non-Fiction Davis (Central) Library Non-Fiction Non-Fiction 364.1323 HER Available T00809683
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The definitive account of the disappearance of forty-three Mexican students

On September 26, 2014, a party of students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College were en route to a protest when intercepted by local police. A confrontation ensued. Come the morning, the students were nowhere to be found. The crime that had transpired and the resultant cover-up brought the profound depths of corruption in the Mexican government and police force--as well as the vulnerability of ordinary Mexicans--into stark relief.

Investigative reporter Anabel Hernández reconstructs the terrible events of that night and its aftermath, giving us the most complete picture available. Her sources are unparalleled. In researching this book, she secured access to internal government documents that have not been made public and to surveillance footage the government has tried to hide and destroy. Hernández demolishes the Mexican state's official version of events, which the Peña Nieto government cynically dubbed the "historic truth." As her research shows, state officials at all levels, from police and prosecutors to the upper echelons of government, conspired to put together a fake case, concealing and manipulating evidence, and arresting and torturing dozens of "suspects," procuring forced confessions to back up the official lie. By following the role of the various Mexican state agencies through the events in such remarkable detail, A Massacre in Mexico shows with exacting precision precisely who is responsible for this monumental crime and who needs to be held accountable.

First published: Vintage Espano, 2017.

Includes index.

"The definitive account of the mass disappearance of 43 Mexican students and the government that tried to cover it up. On September 26, 2014, 43 male students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College went missing in Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico. According to official reports, the students commandeered several buses to travel to Mexico City to commemorate the anniversary of the 1968 Tlatelolco Massacre. During the journey, local police intercepted the students and a confrontation ensued. By the morning, they had disappeared without a trace. Hernández reconstructs almost minute-by-minute the events of those nights in late September 2014, giving us what is surely the most complete picture available: her sources are unparalleled, since she has secured access to internal government documents that have not been made public, and to video surveillance footage the government has tried to hide and destroy. Hernández demolishes the Mexican state's official version, which the Peña Nieto government cynically dubbed the "historic truth." State officials at all levels, from police and prosecutors to the upper echelons of the PRI administration, conspired to put together a fake case, concealing or manipulating evidence, and arresting and torturing dozens of "suspects" who then obliged with full "confessions" that matched the official lie. In the wake of the students' disappearances, protestors in Mexico took up the slogan "Fue el estado"--"It was the state." Hernández's book is the one that gives most precision and credibility to the claim: by following the role of the various Mexican state agencies through the events in such remarkable detail, she allows to see exactly which parts of the state are responsible for which component of this monumental crime"-- Provided by publisher.

Translated from the Spanish.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

On September 26, 2014, 43 male students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College went missing in Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico. The group, traveling in a borrowed bus, were on their way to protest cuts in their operating funds. Explanations for their disappearance were given, but none appeared to "hold water." In this volume, Hernandez, one of Mexico's leading investigative journalists, now living in the United States, has literally put her own life in jeopardy to offer a possible account of what actually took place. Hernandez contends that crimes of violence, like this one, are often committed for political reasons, and that the drug trade is an important factor. For example, she surmises that the bus in which the students were riding might have been mistaken for one carrying vast amounts of heroin. Hernandez writes fluidly, with meticulous details to back up her case. VERDICT A powerful investigation for fans of true crime and nonfiction about the international drug trade.-Frances O. Sandiford, formerly with Green Haven Correctional Facility Lib., Stormville, NY © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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