Tensions Escalate Over Missing Mexican Students
CAMEROTA: Tensions are boiling over in Mexico after word that dozens of missing students are believed to be dead. The attorney general says their bodies were burned and some tossed in the river. A powerful political couple was allegedly behind these abductions and the murders. Now families are demanding answers, and they are rioting in the streets. Let's get to CNN's Rosa Flores. She is live for us in Mexico. Rosa, this is one of the most sickening, disgusting stories.</s>ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, good morning. Things are getting uglier by the day here in southern Mexico. We drove up to the latest protests only to find charred vehicles in front of a government building. And we actually asked the organizer about it, and he said, "Yes, that was us, and we don't plan to stop until the students come home."</s>FLORES (voice-over): Tensions erupt in Mexico's southern state of Guerrero. (on camera): Take a look around. You can see charred vehicles. (voice-over): And in Mexico's capital. As the parents of 43 missing college students lose patience with authorities. It's been more than a month, and no trace of their children; not even after the arrest of more than 70 people, including a political power couple that Mexico's attorney general says is the possible mastermind of the kidnapping. This is cell-phone video showing the mayor of Iguala and his wife being arrested. Authorities say the cartel-connected pair colluded with the police chief and drug traffickers to kidnap, kill and dispose of the missing students. Neither the mayor nor his wife has commented. Even before the couple was taken in, protesters were determined to take them down, burning their seat of power. (on camera): This is the perfect example. It's Iguala city hall. But take a look. It's a charred building, a shell of what it was. Protesters actually came in and wrote on the walls "Vivos los queremos (ph)," "alive we want them back." (voice-over): Fuelling anger in the community, taped confessions by three recently arrested cartel members, saying they burned the bodies in a public dump and tossed the remains into a river. Edmundo Delgado (ph), a community activist, says too many people disappear in Mexico and are never found. (on camera): He says if today there's 43 students who have gone missing and we don't find them, 10, 15 years from now, what can we expect? (voice-over): The parents of the missing students say they've lost patience.</s>FLORES (on camera): He says that this group has one message. That their response will get more and more radical.</s>FLORES: Mexico's president condemns the violence, but the parents say they don't plan to stop -- Alisyn.</s>CAMEROTA: Rosa, when do we know definitively if these 43 students were actually killed?</s>FLORES: You know, that's a very tricky question, because right now, parents don't know; authorities don't know. And one of the very interesting things about this particular case is that these parents have heard three times from federal authorities that someone has confessed, that remains have been found and that these remains probably belong to their children. And so at this point, they don't trust the government. As a matter of fact, they don't trust the government so much that even though the local M.E.'s office is involved, they had M.E.s from Argentina come in to Mexico to pretty much sample the remains. And then they plan to send those samples to Austria so that they can I.D. the bodies. So the answer is at this point no one knows -- Alisyn.</s>CAMEROTA: Of course. I mean, how can they trust their public officials when the mayor and corrupt police officers might have been involved in all this? Rosa Flores, we will check back in with you for updates throughout the show this morning. Thank you very much.</s>CUOMO: All those countries mentioned, you didn't hear the United States. We'll stay on this story and see what's going on in terms of cooperative effort to get these kids and find out what happened to them. We're also going to go from those who were taken to those who are now back home. What would home mean for you? After being detained in a place like North Korea for months like Matthew Miller and Jeffrey Fowle and even years in the case of Kenneth Bae. What's it like to transition back home? First come the hugs, the tears and the pizza, as you were just saying. But what happens when the celebrations end? You're going to hear it straight from this man, former hostage Jeffrey Fowle. Stay with us.