Mexico's Top Human Rights Official Resigns, Handing Off Unsolved Mass Disappearance Case

Alejandro Encinas spent years investigating the high-profile case of 43 missing students, but said he was stepping down to work on a presidential election campaign.

Reporting from Mexico City
Oct. 19, 2023, 5:35 p.m. ET

Alejandro Encinas, the Mexican government’s top human rights official and head of the truth commission investigating the 2014 disappearance of 43 students, resigned Thursday, stepping away from one of the country’s worst human rights atrocities in recent history as it remained unsolved.

Mr. Encinas, the under secretary for human rights, had served in the role since December 2018, and said he was leaving government to work on the campaign of Claudia Sheinbaum, the governing party’s candidate in next year’s presidential elections.

In a message posted on X on Thursday, Mr. Encinas thanked President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his colleagues, and said, “My respect and gratitude to all the victims, families, social movements and organizations for the trust placed in my management.”

A longtime friend and political ally of Mexico’s president, Mr. Encinas has long been at odds with the Mexican armed forces, and has been one of the few people willing to criticize the military from inside the administration.

More:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/19/world/americas/mexico-alejandro-encinas-resigns.html