Teachers Union Leaders of Six Nations Ask U.N. Human Rights Council to Investigate Disappearance of 43 Mexican Teachers Two Years Ago

WASHINGTON—Exactly two years since 43 Mexican teachers-in-training disappeared under mysterious circumstances without any subsequent word from the Mexican government, six teacher union leaders from the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and El Salvador are asking the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate the disappearance and possible atrocities that they have endured.

“The failure to resolve the mystery of the 43 disappeared is empowering to the government authorities, who were complicit in this heinous act and have sabotaged the efforts to bring justice and truth to the resolution and reconciliation,” the union leaders wrote in their letter sent today (read Spanish version here) to U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein. “The lack of accountability and justice inflicts fear and anxiety that has a chilling effect on young adults in similar communities who might consider the profession of teaching.” 

The letter states the 43 teachers “were summarily removed by the very government in whose service they aspired to be employed.” The letter calls upon the U.N. Human Rights Council to ask the Mexican government to prosecute those responsible and explain the fate of the 43 educators.

Over the past two years, there have been allegations that local police inflicted brutal torture and mutilation on the victims, before murdering them and incinerating the bodies. The teachers union officials said the Mexican government must investigate, prosecute those responsible and come forward with a truthful account of the fate of the young educators.

“While we do not experience the daily pain and suffering that haunts their families, we cannot stand by in silence,” the letter reads. “Their mysterious disappearance perpetrated by the state threatens the security of the profession.”

The letter was signed by American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and the following teachers union leaders:

Sonia Alesso, General Secretary, CTERA, Argentina
Confederación de Trabajadores de la Educación de la República Argentina

Roberto Franklin, President, CNTE, Brazil
Confederaçao Nacional dos Trabalhadores em Educação

Jaime Gajardo Orellana, President, CPC, Chile
Colegio de Profesores de Chile

Luis Alberto Grubert Ibarra, President, FECODE, Colombia
Federación Colombiana de Educadores

Israel Montano Osona, General Secretary, ANES, El Salvador
Associacón Nacional de Educadores Salvadoreños 21 de Junio