In 2014, students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ College in Mexico came under attack by police. Six people were killed and 43 young men disappeared without a trace. Families suspected the government was hiding the truth. In our three-part After Ayotzinapa series, Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX took listeners inside the investigation of the attack on the students, exposing corruption at the highest levels and an unsettling connection to America’s war on drugs.

Now, Adonde Media, an international, multilingual podcast production company, has developed a six-part Spanish-language version. Después de Ayotzinapa premiered March 22, with new episodes to be released every Tuesday and Thursday through April 7.
Después de Ayotzinapa is presented by Animal Político, and both productions are in collaboration with the National Security Archive.

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Episodio 1: En busca de la verdad / In Search of the Truth

En verano de 2021, el actual fiscal del caso Ayotzinapa anuncia el hallazgo de restos de los normalistas desaparecidos siete años antes. En total se ha identificado sólo a tres de ellos. El caso lleva años estancado en una “verdad histórica” impuesta por el anterior gobierno. Con el fiscal Omar Gómez Trejo la investigación se ha retomado, pero de otra forma. Él parece determinado a aclarar los hechos, habla del derecho a la verdad y a la justicia para las víctimas de esa noche. Una noche que vamos a revivir de la mano de quienes estuvieron allí, de los supervivientes que después de todo este tiempo, aún tienen más dudas que certezas.

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In the first episode of Después de Ayotzinapa, the listener is taken back to the night of the attack on Sept. 26, 2014, via testimonials from the survivors. Years later, many still have more doubts than certainties about what happened that night and why.

For years, the Mexican government had declared the case of the 43 missing Ayotzinapa students solved and closed, calling its version of events the “historical truth.” Then in 2019, a new Mexican president reopened the case under prosecutor Omar Gómez Trejo and declared that he would find the truth and get justice for the victims and their families. The first step of progress in the investigation came in the summer of 2021, when Gómez Trejo announced new remains from the disappeared students had been discovered. So far, only three students have been identified.

Episodio 2: Los desaparecidos / The Missing

El día después de los ataques, los sobrevivientes cuentan a las víctimas y a los desaparecidos. Un tercer cuerpo, desollado, aparece en Iguala. Las familias de los normalistas exigen información, pero ésta no llegará. Deberán acostumbrarse a vivir sin saber qué pasó con los 43 desaparecidos. Ante la pasividad del gobierno, empiezan a investigar por su cuenta y traen a México a un equipo forense de la Argentina. Muchos se movilizan para buscar información, y la policía les dice que encontraron fosas con restos humanos que podrían ser de los estudiantes. Pero el equipo de forenses argentinos lo desmiente. Y ahí, una ola de indignación golpea a México.

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The day after the attack on the Ayotzinapa students, the survivors count the victims and the disappeared. The families of the students demand to know their whereabouts but are told nothing. They also think that the government isn’t doing enough.  Faced with this, the families hire their own forensic team from Argentina to investigate. Many others join the search for information, and almost two weeks after the attack, the police announce they have found graves with remains that could be the students. The Argentine forensic team disproves this, leading to a wave of outrage and protests across  Mexico and around the world.

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This post was originally published on Reveal.