43 (2015) - full transcript

(car horns honking)

(engines revving)

(dramatic synth music)

(people arguing)

- We're in the middle
of yet another protest

from the Mexican citizens
complaining about

their government,
which is nothing new.

This is one of the streets
here in downtown Iguala.

We have many, many citizens
here, maybe 100 plus,

protesting the federal police.

The federal police, they've
taken over this city



after the municipal
police were dissolved

after the incident on
September the 26th, 2014,

when 43 students went missing
from the school Ayotzinapa.

(horns honking)

(people chanting)

- They took these
kids away somewhere.

We don't know where.

No one seems to know where.

- All this blaming
each other began,

like in many other
cases in Mexico.

As many other stories
in our history,

it went deadly wrong,
and that's only one

of those stories that
we actually know about.

It just went out of control.



As easy as it looks,

that you can't just
erase someone from

the face of the Earth
in Mexico nowadays,

you cannot do that without
facing some consequences.

- It's very, very
hot, late June 2015,

and we're gonna get to
the school in Ayotzinapa

to talk to the
students, the parents,

the administrators to find out

the latest on this huge tragedy.

(dramatic synth music)

We can see the entrance
of the school Ayotzinapa.

This is an all-male
school where they

were studying to
become teachers,

people who were trying
to make a difference in

the poor state of Guerrero,
to make Mexico a better place.

(dramatic synth music)

- When millions of Mexicans
that we do our part everyday,

we play fairly and
we play with love for

the country, and we
move that country.

- We are the ones,
the good Mexicans

are the ones who
move our country

forward, not the
powerful crooks.

(dramatic synth music)

- This is the
actual intersection

where the buses
were intercepted.

The students from
Ayotzinapa were basically

trapped in this area right here.

In the last seven years,
135,000 Mexican people

have been murdered
during this drug war

that's really occurring
in the United States.

It's a war on people
here in Mexico,

and out of all those
deaths, I would say

that this particular incident,

that occurred on
September 26, 2014,

has gotten the most attention.

You can see a memorial
here that has been set up

to honor these missing students.

- I took this investigation
because for me,

these students, really,
they are a symbol

of something that is important.

They are people that fight
against the injustice.

They are kids that
are very poor.

The Isidro Burgos School

and also other
teachers' schools,

they have this big meeting to

organize the big protest for the

next October, too,
in Mexico City.

They decide that now,
in that year, 2014,

was the work of the
Isidro Burgos School

get the bosses to
be able to go there.

So okay, that's your
job, get the bosses.

Others will get money.

Others will get food.

The mission was get 27 buses,

and they have very
short time to do it.

How they do it?

How they used to do it?

Many of these kinds
of public schools,

how they used to do it,
they stole the buses.

They stole them,
and they took them

for some days, and then
they'd release them.

That's how they work.

This is a school of teachers,

very young people,
that came from

the poorest areas in Guerrero.

Really are not common people.

Ayotzinapa, Isidro Burgos
choose the students

not because the student
is the most smart guy.

It's because the ideology.

This group doesn't
accept the violence.

They don't accept be poor
for the rest of their lives.

They don't accept the
abuse of the power

against their families,
against their territory.

(camera clicks)

- Why these students
are radicals?

First, the society, the world

should ask what have
we done to them,

what the government done to them

to push them to
take that decisions.

You really cannot understand
what Ayotzinapa is

if you don't see each story
of each boy that is there,

(camera clicks)

and each story is very sad.

It's a tragedy.

They don't have food to eat.

They don't have clothes to wear.

They see how the army
raped their mothers

and their sisters,
and it's not justice.

(camera clicks)

- Those families
don't have any proof

that their kids are
alive or gone forever.

This cannot be over.

This is not over, and this
case cannot be closed.

There's nothing you can say to

a mother that lost her child or

to a family who lost everything.

There's nothing we can say.

- I know that in that attack

participate the
municipal police,

the police of Guerrero,
the government of Guerrero,

the army of the
federal government,
and the federal police.

Everyone participate in
the attack of the students.

- To my left, you can
see a huge sign here,

a reward for one million pesos

to help capture whoever was

responsible for the
missing 43 students.

- Federal government,
really at the beginning,

start to say a lot of things
that doesn't have any sense.

So the first sign, the
first proof that I got,

really, really important,
is from one court in Mexico.

I start investigate
and they gave the file,

and for example,
the government said,

oh, we arrest to the
municipal police.

22 municipal police that
participate in the attack,

and they are guilty,
and they did it

and they confessed, and I
was able to get the file,

and many of them were released.

And the confessions
are very different

than the government is saying.

- [Voiceover] Is Peña
Nieto a murderer?

- I think, as almost any
Mexican would tell you,

the biggest problems
of the country

are corruption and
government impunity,

and even though Mexico's
a very vigorous democracy

in which you can
criticize the President

in the newspapers,
on TV, on the radio,

and public demonstrations,
often criticism

and protest marches and
demonstrations change nothing.

The structure of the economy
and the political system,

which is at the heart
of the problem, that is,

the rich getting richer
and the poor staying poor.

Historically, Mexico's
been kept down because

the United States, its next
door neighbor to the north,

is much more powerful in almost

every way, economically,
politically.

Mexico essentially
supplies cheap labor

for American industry,
American fields.

The United States sends hundreds

or thousands of
factories to Mexico

and creates industrial
production there

but exploits the
workers of Mexico.

It's a very one-sided
relationship.

- [Voiceover] Tell us about
the state of Guerrero.

- The state of Guerrero
is one, historically,

of tremendous poverty,
tremendous social inequality

and endless rebellion and
protest against local government

and state government
and federal government.

(whistles)

- The most famous city in the
state of Guerrero is Acapulco.

This used to be the
ultimate tourist destination

for famous movie
stars and musicians

until cartel violence hit this

city in the last,
about, 10 years,

making it the most
dangerous city in Mexico.

- Very corrupt,
despotic leadership

controlling a population
that's extremely poor.

Rural farmers with
very few rights,

and many of them,
especially in Guerrero,

their only way to survive
is by growing marijuana

or opium poppies to make heroin,

and these are people with
few opportunities in life,

little chance to get a proper
education or a good job.

They try to send their
kids off to college,

high school if
they're lucky, really,

but some of them get to college,

such as the students who
were murdered at Ayotzinapa.

So Guerrero's produced some
of the most radical movements

in Mexico, such as the
rebel group in the 1970s of

the Party of the Poor
and Lucio Cabañas.

(dramatic synth music)

- Iguala is a very
historic city in Mexico.

This is where the
Mexican flag was born.

It's the third largest city
in Guerrero after Acapulco

and Chilpancingo,
which is the capital.

This city has over
100,000 residents,

and they're still
reeling from that day,

now nine months later
as of this filming.

After the mayor and his wife
fled after the incident,

a new mayor was brought
in, basically a lame duck,

and he'll be replaced
this September of 2015.

I'm standing in
front of what used

to be city hall here in Iguala.

Rioters and protesters
burned down a lot of it.

You can see that behind
me, a lot of the damage.

Mr. Mendiola, good afternoon.

- Good afternoon.

- Charlie Minn.

- Sit down, please.

- Can do.

(horns honking)

- Okay, we just finished
with the mayor of Iguala.

Now, we'll do a ride-along with

the state police here in Iguala.

The municipal police
department has been dissolved

since the disappearance
of the 43 students.

The federal army, federal
police, and now the state police

have pretty much taken
over the reins of the city,

and a new mayor will be taking
over as of September of 2015.

You always see the
presence of police

because of the
threat of violence,

because of the cartel war which

continues in this
beautiful country.

Because of the illegal
drug consumption

in the United States,
unfortunately,

Mexico has had to
pay a dear price.

135,000 Mexican people have
been murdered since 2007.

- There's, you know, many issues
that we need to deal with.

First of all, this traffic,
this drug trafficking,

it's so big because
the consumers

are here in the United States.

I'm sure everyone
knows what their

own responsibility
on this and that is,

not only in terms
of consuming a lot

of drugs here but
also in terms of

sending a lot of
weapons into Mexico.

It's very easy to blame
one side or another.

I think this issue is

a core responsibility that

goes both ways, on both
sides of the border.

- This is a very, very poor city

that has had a lot
of violence of late.

My first impressions of this
city is what I expected,

friendly people, humble people

but very, very poor, and
with poverty comes crime.

Look at this, huh?

What is your name?

The cutest baby in Guerrero.

This is the Esperanza for
Guerrero one day, right?

And we will see
if this city will

be able to recapture
and rebound from

that devastating night,
September 26th of 2014.

(yelling)

(horns honking)

(gloomy synth music)

- We are just moments away
from the family members

from Guerrero to
arrive here in Juarez

to try to create awareness
for this severe injustice.

You saw some of the pictures
here of the 43 students

that were supposedly murdered.

(people socializing)

- The reality of the situation

is that what's
happening, not only

the funding of the cartels
and of the Mexican military,

is only by and through
the complicity of

the US government with
the Mexican government.

They know exactly
what's happening.

Those individuals who
have any sort of education

or any type of
organizing capacity,

through either
unions or churches,

are being silenced and murdered

and run out of the cities,
states, and even of the country.

They have to rid themselves of

a population that is
capable of serving

either as complainants
or witnesses.

- Many student movements
and other kinds

of protest movements, it almost
always have been put down

by violence, murder,
and mass incarceration.

These complaints, these
demonstrations, these movements

very seldom actually
change the structure of

the economy and the
political system.

- It seems like it's a
national sport to blame

each other when something
goes wrong in Mexico.

We have smart, brave,
bright politicians.

They're only a few
good men here or there,

you know, but they
can't do it alone.

And it seems like everything,
all this corruption

stops these people from
doing good for everyone,

and it's not only
corruption but impunity.

(melancholic synth music)

(cheering and clapping)

(cheering and clapping)

- [All] One, we are the people!

Two, (chanting in Spanish)!

Three, we want justice!

Four, (chanting in Spanish)!

- We come from the state
of Guerrero in Mexico,

bringing reality,
bringing truth,

because we are very clear about

the fact that the
Mexican government

and everything that
they say is a lie!

The message that
we bring is that

the night of the 26th and
the morning of the 27th,

our sons were
attacked by the state!

- It was a persecution!

Our sons, we teach them to
study and we teach them to work,

and for them, it was
a huge privilege to be

accepted to the
school Ayotzinapa.

How can we imagine
this was gonna happen

on the night of September 26th?

We had no idea this
was gonna happen!

Since they took our kids,

43 future teachers, we
live in desperation!

We live enraged!

We live in indignified!

- Since the Plan
Mérida was signed

between Bush and
Felipe Calderón,

the US government
is start to send

a lot of money to
make more powerful

the federal police,
the army, marines,

and many polices in
different states in Mexico.

One of that states was Guerrero.

The US government,
we never understand,

that they were giving more power

to institutions that
are very corrupted

and institutions
that have a long,

long history of abuse of power.

I don't see any practice,

how the US government
couldn't calculate

the result of that
because they had proofs

that shows that organized crime

penetrate many of
these institutions.

I think the Plan Mérida is
one of the worst mistakes

of the US government
in the recent history.

The way to attack the
cartels are not guns.

You just have to
confiscate their money,

and you don't need
a bullet for that.

It's just a button,
an order, a sign.

You have to put in
jail all the people,

the members of the
government in Mexico

and also in US that
works for them.

Send guns to Mexico

is like throw gasoline

in a fire.

- We're asking you to
support us, to tell

the government that they need
to start an investigation!

They need to start a
whole new investigation,

and also, a stop to Plan Mérida,

the joint business that the
United States government

has with the Mexican government
and the funding of all arms

and military forces in Mexico,

which is only going to kill us!

It's only going to kidnap us!

It's only going to rape
us, and we don't need that!

We don't need that
funding in our country!

We want that funding to stop!

We demand a full presentation

of all 43 future teachers!

We repeat!

We demand the alive
presentation of

all 43 future teachers
because we know they're alive!

- There's one thing
that needs to be clear.

No one will go anywhere
and will stop any protests

and any rallies until
we know the truth,

not the la verdad histórica,

the historic truth as one
of those guys called it,

but the real thing.

- This will not stop until
we all know the truth.

- If we really don't understand

that now are they

but tomorrow can be
my son, my daughter.

If we really, each Mexican,
don't understand this,

they are just helping
to the government

to destroy our country.

They have to learn
to say no more,

no more, and this
example, the case of

the 43 students, is a good
example to say no more.

(gloomy synth music)