A group of independent experts have accused the Mexican government of stonewalling their investigation into the disappearance of 43 students in September 2014. Mexican authorities have claimed police turned the students over to drug gang members, who killed them and incinerated their bodies. But the experts, appointed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, concluded there was no such burning. The experts also found evidence state, federal and military personnel were present on the night of the disappearance, and evidence that suspects whose confessions were used to bolster the government’s account were tortured. The experts said they faced obstacles from the Mexican government, including the withholding of documents and even a retaliatory criminal probe into one of the officials who appointed the panel. In Washington, D.C., Antonio Tizapa, the father of one of the missing students, joined a demonstration in support of the panel. He spoke to Democracy Now! by phone.

Antonio Tizapa: “It’s not a protest. It’s a major show of support for this great work that they have done. This is a way to show gratitude and express our support, so they continue, so they see we have confidence in them, because we don’t have confidence in the government.”