Man's son among students presumed dead in Mexico

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- A vigil was held in the South Bay on Friday night for the 43 kidnapped students in Mexico who are now feared dead. The father of one of the students, Israel Jacinto Lugardo, was at the vigil and spoke with ABC7 News.

Isrrael Jacinto Galindo proudly swipes through his son's Facebook pictures. Lugardo, 19, was among the 43 students who disappeared in Iguala, Mexico this September.

Galindo says the whole world is watching the state of Guerrero where this happened.

In a news conference Friday, Mexico's Attorney General Jose Murillo Karam showed video of charred remains and said three men have confessed to murdering the students.

This is a case that has sparked massive protests against the Mexican president because of a slow response.

Demonstrators here in San Jose honored those 43 students Friday night. They're focusing attention on corrupt government officials accused of ordering the attack.

"It was actually the mayor of Ayotzinapa [sic], which is the city where the students got killed," Fernando Adama said. "The mayor and the wife, I guess the wife is supposed to be the leader of the cartel from Guerrero."

Iguala Mayor Jose Luis Abarca and his wife, Maria de Los Angeles Pineda, were arrested this week in Mexico City. They've been on the run since September.

Prosecutors say the pair allegedly ordered the local police chief to stop the students from protesting a speech she made. Officers opened fire on their convoy of buses then handed the survivors over to cartel members.

Galindo says he's lost faith in the Mexican government and he's worried for his own safety because he knows cartels have their hands in everything. But as a father, he said he has to speak out.