Former Mexico Mayor's Wife Charged with Organised Crime

Mexico city's former Mayor's wife has been charged with organised crime and money laundering.

According to Al Jazeera, Maria de los Angeles Pineda and her husband Jose Luis Abarca have been named by the prosecutors as "probable masterminds" behind the disappearance of 43 students from Iguala, in the state of Guerrero. They were arrested in November.

Abarca was charged with organised crime, kidnapping and murder for events before the disappearance of the students.

She was transferred to a high security prison in the western state of Nayarit where she is awaiting trial. Earlier Pineda was held under provisional arrest.

Pineda's brothers were members of a local drug gang in Iguala, prosecutors said.

They further said that after the protesting students were apprehended by the police, they were handed over to the drug gang who allegedly killed them and burnt their bodies. According to BBC, till now only one of the bodies has correctly been identified as one of the aspiring teachers'.

 Even though it is not clear, it is being speculated that Pineda's charges are in connection with the disappearance of the students.

The students went missing after they clashed with the police during a protest Sept. 26. Their disappearance irked the people of the region and led to nationwide protests which rocked the government of President Enrique Pena Nieto.

During investigation it was revealed that Abarca had instructed police to take strict action against the students so that they do not spoil a certain public event that his wife was to lead.

On Christmas Eve, parents of the students staged a demonstration, while it rained heavily, in front of the Los Pinos Presidential palace.