Mexico arrests suspected drug lord in connection with 43 missing students

MEXICO CITY: A suspected drug cartel boss allegedly linked to the disappearance of 43 college students a decade ago was arrested in Mexico after his release from prison in 2019, authorities said Friday.
Gildardo Lopez Astudillo, alias “El Gil”, is a suspected leader of the Guerreros Unidos Cartelwho is accused of being behind the disappearance and alleged murders of the students of the Ayotzinapa Teachers' College in 2014.
Lopez Astudillo was arrested in September 2015 in the southern city of Taxco in the state of Guerrero, about 35 kilometers north of the city of Iguala, where the students disappeared.
“Gildardo Lopez Astudillo has been arrested,” a federal security source familiar with the case told reporters on Friday, asking that his name not be used because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Lopez Astudillo was transferred to the maximum security Altiplano prison in Mexico state, the source said.
He was arrested for “organized crime,” but the investigation could be expanded, the source said.
In September 2014, the 43 students were on their way to a political demonstration in Mexico City. They were arrested when investigators assumed that they had been kidnapped by a drug cartel in collaboration with corrupt police officers.
The exact circumstances of her disappearance remain unknown, but a government-appointed truth commission called the case a “state crime” and said the military was either directly or through negligence responsible.
Arrests Arrest warrants have been issued or ordered for dozens of suspects, including military personnel and a former attorney general who led a controversial investigation into the mass disappearances.
The remains of only a few victims could be identified.
Lopez Astudillo was released in 2019 – a move condemned by the families of the missing students – after a judge found that the evidence against him had been obtained illegally.
His arrest comes as relatives prepare demonstrations to mark the anniversary of the students' disappearance.