Forensic Experts Identify Remains of One of Mexico’s Missing Ayotzinapa Students · Global Voices
Elizabeth Rivera

Portrait of Alexander Mora Venancio by Kathia Recio from the movement Ilustrators with Ayotzinapa #IlustradoresConAyotzinapa.
Remains found in a garbage dump in the Mexican town of Cocula are those of 21-year-old Alexander Mora Venancio, one of the 43 trainee teachers abducted on September 26 in Iguala, southwestern Mexico, after being ambushed by local police.
The Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team, working on behalf of the families of the 43 missing students from the rural teachers college “Raúl Isidro Burgos” in Ayotzinapa, made the identification.
A post on the Facebook page of the college the students attended, written in the voice of Alexander Mora Venancio, confirmed the worst:
Compañeros a todos los que nos han apoyado soy ALEXANDER MORA VENANCIO.
A través de esta voz les hablo soy uno de los 43 caídos del día 26 de Septiembre en manos del narcogobierno. Hoy 6 de diciembre le confirmaron los peritos Argentinos a mi padre que uno de los fragmentos de mis huesos encontrados me corresponden. Me siento orgulloso de ustedes que han levantado mi voz, el coraje y mi espíritu libertario. No dejen a mi padre sólo con mi pesar, para él significo prácticamente todo, la esperanza, el orgullo, su esfuerzo, su trabajo y su dignidad. Te invito que redobles tu lucha. Que mi muerte no sea en vano. Toma la mejor decisión pero no me olvides. Rectifica si es posible pero no perdones. Este es mi mensaje.
Hermanos hasta la victoria.
SOY ALEXANDER MORA VENANCIO DE EL
PERICÓN, MPIO., DE TECOANAPA, GRO
Friends, to all who have been supporting us, I am ALEXANDER MORA VENANCIO.
Through this voice I speak I am one of the 43 fallen on September 26 at the hands of the narco-government. Today Argentine specialists confirmed to my father that the remains were me. I feel proud of you who raised my voice, my courage and my libertarian spirit. Don't let my father be alone with his sadness for him I am everything, his hope, his pride, his effort, his job, his dignity. I invite you to intensify the fight. That my death not be in vain. Take the best decision but don't forget me. Rectify if it is possible but don't forgive. This is my message.
Brothers, until victory.
I AM ALEXANDER MORA VENANCIO FROM EL PERICON, TECOANAPA MUNICIPALITY, GUERRERO STATE.
The news broke while a massive protest led by some of the parents of the missing students were heading from the monument of El Angel de la Independencia to the monument of the Revolution in Mexico City.
Felipe de la Cruz, spokesman for the families, explained that the families received the information late Friday from the Argentinian team of forensic experts in the Escuela Normal de Ayotzinapa. De la Cruz added:
No le lloremos a Alexander. Que sepa que no vamos a descansar hasta que haya justicia. Faltan 42 y los queremos con vida.
Don't cry over Alexander. We will not rest until justice is done. We are missing 42 and we want them alive.
And here are some reactions:
QEPD Alexander Mora Venancio, uno de los 43 que sí movió y seguirá moviendo a #México Justicia y verdad. #nosfaltan42pic.twitter.com/Glj5ti1Vt2
— Salvador San Vicente (@SSVphotographer) December 7, 2014
RIP Alexandre Mora Venancio, one of the 43 who moved and will keep shaking Mexico. Justice and truth.
Alexander Mora Venancio. Enciende mi luz con tu luz. #AyotizinapaSomosTodospic.twitter.com/fwz9FE7nce
— Ursula Pruneda (@ursulapruneda) December 7, 2014
Spark my flame with yours.
Fue el estado quien lo asesinó, fue el estado quien lo desapareció, estado mexicano asesino. Alexander Mora Venancio #AyotzinapaFueElEstado
— Miss partes (@misspartes) December 7, 2014
It was the State who murdered him, it was the State who kidnapped him, Murder Mexican State.
“No lloramos a Alexander Mora Venancio. Su caída florecerá en la revolución”: Felipe de la Cruz #6DMX#Ayotzinapapic.twitter.com/IGh41iQ66j
— Compi Majhadera (@Majhadera) December 7, 2014
“We don't cry over Alexander Mora Venancio. His downfall will bloom in revolution”: Felipe de la Cruz
#Ayotzinapa Tu lucha es mi lucha, Tu dolor, es mi dolor Alexander Mora Venancio no debió morir, exigimos justicia pic.twitter.com/BW7KytYQzA
— Emmanuel Lion Zion (@FlorezLion) December 7, 2014
Your fight is my fight. Your pain is my pain. Alexander Mora Venancio shouldn't have died, we demand justice
Alexander Mora Venancio pasa de la lista de los 22mil desaparecidos a la de los 125mil muertos; No dejaremos d demandar JUSTICIA #YaMeCanse2
— UnDíaComoLeón (@UnDiaComoLeon) December 7, 2014
Alexander Mora Venancio passed from the list of the 22,000 missing to the 125,000 deaths. We are not going to stop demanding justice
The students went missing September 26 after they and others traveled in buses to Iguala to a protest. They were captured by Iguala police and were allegedly turned over to a gang in cartel territory and executed in Cocula. According to authorities, the gang burned the bodies and dumped some of them in a river.
The case has exposed the corruption and inefficiency of the Mexican government to control the violence that has racked the country and led to protests demanding justice and the resignation of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.