New episode of ‘Free to Think:’ “People were disappeared, just like the smoke.”
Posted April 21, 2025
Episode 43: “People were disappeared, just like the smoke.” Omar Gómez Trejo on seeking truth and justice in the 2014 Ayotzinapa case in Iguala, Mexico
Listen to SAR’s latest episode of the Free to Think podcast, hosted by SAR Executive Director Rob Quinn. Free to Think features conversations with interesting, thoughtful, and inspiring individuals whose research, teaching, or expression falls at the always sensitive intersection of power and ideas. We’ll be speaking with those who have the courage to seek truth and speak truth, often at great risk, as well as with those who support them and share their stories.
Free to Think speaks with Omar Gómez Trejo, a lawyer and human rights advocate from Mexico. Omar gained prominence as the special prosecutor leading the investigation into the disappearance of 43 student teachers from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ College in the city of Iguala, Mexico.
From 2019-2022, Omar’s team secured indictments for over 100 federal, state, and local authorities for their involvement in the disappearances or subsequent cover-ups, including military officials and organized crime members. His team also worked closely with the families of victims and their legal representatives in their search for truth and justice.
Facing significant political interference in the case, Omar resigned as special prosecutor in 2022. Through SAR’s Practitioners at Risk program, Omar is a visiting scholar at the Human Rights Center at the University of California at Berkeley’s School of Law. There, he continues to work on the Ayotzinapa case through his research and teaching, while drawing on his experience with the case to work on broader issues of impunity for human rights violations in Mexico and beyond.
See SAR’s monitoring of the 2014 Ayotzinapa case: https://ow.ly/blY950VwQTm
Listen to “After Ayotzinapa” on Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting: https://revealnews.org/article/after-ayotzinapa/
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See all Free to Think podcast episodes: www.scholarsatrisk.org/podcast