The National Guard, the Army, and the AIC are accused of the alleged forced disappearance of 14-year-old José Juan.

GUANAJUATO, Gto., (apro).- Members of the National Guard, the Army, and the Criminal Investigation Agency (AIC) of the state Attorney General's Office are accused of being responsible for the forced disappearance of a 14-year-old teenager. They took him after apparently carrying out a search of a home in Valle de Santiago on June 19. His whereabouts have remained unknown since then.

José Juan Arias Solís was detained and forced into a pickup truck with Army logos right in front of his father. The man was on the roof of his house in the Ranchos Unidos neighborhood; he heard his son's screams. He came outside the house when he saw the patrol cars with the troops arriving at 11:30 a.m. that day. According to his account, he saw them subdue him, beat him, and then take him away. He has not been able to locate him since then.

The officers arrived in official vehicles, National Guard trucks, and Army and AIC vehicles, at least one of which has a vehicle number. There is also a C4 camera near the house, reported attorney José Luis Miranda, legal advisor to the teenager's family.

Miranda indicated that an injunction has already been filed, which was accepted by Karla Macías Lovera, the head of the Ninth District Court in Irapuato, requesting that the authorities involved provide information about the search for and location of the boy.

Judge Macías has handled several similar cases in the state, for which she has required and even sanctioned the Army in response to reports of missing persons and their possible responsibility.

"He (the boy's father) was on the roof feeding the dogs. He heard his son screaming. He tried to leave, but the officers stopped him. At 4 p.m., a supposed public prosecutor showed up. They took the father to the prosecutor's office. He wasn't charged with any crime. He was released at 10:30 p.m.," he explained.

Although José Juan's parents asked the Prosecutor's Office from that day on whether there were any charges against their son or whether he was being held and where, they received no answers.

The military and the AIC even took José Juan's motorcycle in one of their patrol cars. The official from the state prosecutor's office who showed up at the house said it was indeed a search; the person assigned to the FGE office in Valle de Santiago refused to provide his name and position to José Juan's father, the lawyer said.

Omissions and suspicions

Despite the missing person being reported, it wasn't until June 30 that the state prosecutor's office issued a wanted report.

The following day, the investigation file was transferred to the Attorney General's Office (FGR) based in Irapuato.

The legal advisor explained that the state prosecutor's office has also not provided any information on the motive for the alleged search, which was carried out around noon on June 19 at the home of José Juan's family, located in the Ranchos Unidos neighborhood of Valle de Santiago, in the southern part of the state.

"We have no evidence that any investigation was carried out in any investigation file," he stated. "We ask the prosecutor's office to request information about whether there is another investigation file that justifies the alleged search or whether it was an illegal operation."

The lawyer clarified that if José Juan had been arrested, he would have been referred to a prosecutor's office specializing in juvenile justice, but there is currently no news of his whereabouts. "As time goes by, it becomes more worrying."

The legal advisor stated that the injunction filed requires the immediate location of José Juan, that the National Guard, the Army, and the AIC provide the names of the officers involved, access to the C4 videos, and geolocation using the cell phone the minor had when he was taken.

Miranda said some evidence, including patrol data, has already been handed over to the Prosecutor's Office.

José Juan is a high school student; outside of classes, he helps his parents in the mechanic's shop his father runs and in a business his mother runs.

"Assuming he was on the wrong track, the authorities should still answer what happened to him," the family advisor demanded.