Family members of the 43 students from the Raúl Isidro Burgos Rural Teachers' College in Ayotzinapa arrived at the National Palace this Thursday for an official meeting with President Claudia Sheinbaum. The gathering, which the president confirmed during her morning press conference, comes six months after their last working session.
As reported by eluniversal.com.mx, the group arrived at the historic building around 3:30 p.m. The meeting focused on the families' demands for progress in a case that, according to their legal representatives, has been moving at an agonizingly slow pace.
The Potential Return of the GIEI
A central point of the dialogue was the potential reinstatement of the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI). Lawyer Isidoro Vicario Aguilar, who represents a group of the families, noted that their insistence on this issue stems from the need for specialized external oversight to help determine the whereabouts of the young men.
"The parents brought it up again, and the president’s response was that it needs to be analyzed seriously; the issue of the GIEI’s return will be looked at with the utmost responsibility," Vicario explained after the meeting, as reported by the aforementioned outlet.
The families have placed particular emphasis on the return of Carlos Beristáin and Ángela Buitrago, two of the most prominent members of the international mechanism. According to eluniversal.com.mx, President Sheinbaum instructed her team to establish immediate contact with the experts to evaluate the feasibility of their return to the case.
While the families acknowledged that the progress presented during the meeting was limited, they emphasized that the president’s commitment to seriously consider the proposal is a necessary step forward. The ongoing uncertainty surrounding the Ayotzinapa case—which has dominated Mexico's human rights agenda for years—continues to drive the parents' persistent demand for concrete results from the federal administration.
