A Massacre in Mexico: The True Story Behind the Missing Forty-Three Students

by Anabel Hernández Narrated by Rebecca Gibel

Overview

The definitive account of the mass disappearance of forty-three Mexican students and the government that tried to cover it up



On September 26, 2014, forty-three 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 us to see exactly which parts of the state are responsible for which component of this monumental crime.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

[A] detailed coverage of the government’s horrifying and often clumsy attempt at a cover-up … her sources are clear and convincing.”
—Rachel Nolan, London Review of Books

“A Massacre in Mexico is a harrowing inquisition in to the fate of forty-three missing Mexican students and the governmental cover-up … This is sure to be a controversial, significant work, one that might anger more than a few powerful people in Mexico. Anabel Hernandez valiantly risks her safety to uncover a crime that the world shouldn’t forget.”
—Mya Alexice

“Her storytelling becomes a way of revealing an entire world.”
—Roberto Saviano

“It is the most comprehensive account of what is known about the attack—and about the astonishingly corrupt government investigation that followed… A Massacre in Mexico presents an overwhelming case that federal government investigators working for the administration of Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto created a false narrative of local culpability and sought to close the case before an investigation could reveal the involvement of federal officials.”
—Christy Thornton, Jacobin

“A harrowing inquisition into the fate of forty-three missing Mexican students and the governmental cover-up … Hernandez delves deep into the corruption and violence despite threats against her life.”
—Foreword Reviews

“Brilliant … a masterful piece of journalism which counteracts the narrative of the state.”
—Matt Williams, Medium

“A powerful investigation for fans of true crime and nonfiction about the international drug trade.”
—Frances O. Sandiford, Library Journal

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171072322
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	10/16/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

Videos