Slideshow: Body of Ayotzinapa student exhumed for independent autopsy

Mexican authorities have exhumed the body of Ayotzinapa student Julio Cesar Mondragón. The move comes after months of pressure from his family and per recommendations from a group of experts affiliated with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that authorities permit an independent autopsy. Experts from the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team will perform the autopsy at the request of the family.

The body of the 22-year-old student was found along a dirt road in the Mexican city of Iguala, Guerrero on the morning of September 27, 2014,  after the abduction of 43 of his classmates. The body was left without facial skin, eyes or ears and bearing other signs of apparent torture. The official autopsy concluded that area fauna were responsible for the state in which his body was left, despite the fact that no tooth or beak marks were found. The relatives who identified him in the morgue say Mondragón was clearly tortured and murdered.

When the federal government concluded its initial investigation into the fate of the missing students, announcing that all had been killed and incinerated in an open air dump, no mention was made of Julio Cesar Mondragón nor explanation given about the state in which his body was found.

On Saturday in Mexico City, Mondragón’s family and supporters marched from the the Three Cultures Plaza, site of the 1968 Tlatelolco student massacre, to the Government Forensic Institute. Outside of the government building, students and activists created an enormous altar with Julio Cesar’s face as part of the cultural act “Julio Soy Tu Rostro” or “Julio, I am your face.”

FSRN’s Andalusia Knoll was there and files this photo essay.

Click any thumbnail image to launch slideshow with captions.

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