Mexico City - The former mayor of the south-western
city of Iguala has been charged with last year's kidnapping of 43 students who
are feared to have been killed, a top security official said on Tuesday.
Tomas Zeron, director of criminal
investigations at the federal Attorney General's office, said that prosecutors
had obtained an arrest warrant for former mayor Jose Luis Abarca and 44 others
on charges of kidnapping the 43 students.
President Enrique Pena Nieto is facing his
deepest crisis over the government's handling of the investigation. Anger over
the case spurred sometimes violent demonstrations around the country late last
year.
Zeron did not specify when the warrant was
obtained, but it appeared to be the first charges filed against Abarca that are
directly related to the students' disappearance even though authorities have
said the mayor and his wife were the masterminds of the kidnappings since
October.
Zeron spoke to reporters after meeting with
family members of the missing students.
The students were allegedly abducted by
police working with a local drug gang in the south-western city of Iguala on
the night of 26 September.
On Monday, the federal courts authority
said a judge had ruled Abarca's wife will stand trial for links to organised
crime.
Abarca and his wife, Maria de los Angeles
Pineda were captured by federal police in Mexico City in November.
Abarca was already facing charges of links
to organized crime as well as kidnapping and murder charges related to other
cases besides the students.
