Ex-officer was head of army base in Iguala when students were abducted in what a report called a ‘state crime’

Mexican authorities have arrested a retired general and two other members of the army for alleged links to the disappearance of 43 students in the south of the country in 2014.

The assistant public safety secretary, Ricardo Mejia, said that among those arrested was the former officer who commanded the army base in the Guerrero state city of Iguala in September 2014, when the students from a radical teachers’ college were abducted.

Despite Covid deaths and enduring drug violence, voters look poised to keep president in office in referendum he supports

Maria de Lourdes loves her leader and is desperate for him to stay.

“He’s the best president we’ve had in 70 years,” the retiree enthused this week as she prepared to bombard her phone contacts with calls urging them to back him on Sunday, when Mexico goes to the polls.

But president’s Morena party keeps its majority in the lower house of congress

Mexican voters have denied President Andrés Manuel López Obrador a mega-majority in midterm elections, though his Morena party kept its majority in the lower house of congress with the support of a controversial ally.

Voters also showed little enthusiasm for Mexico’s rightwing opposition, which remains reviled after its decisive 2018 defeat by López Obrador, who swept to power promising to curb corruption and put the poor first.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador remains popular but midterm elections may reflect judgments of his handling of the pandemic and endemic violence

Nearly three years have passed since Andrés Manuel López Obrador was elected president of Mexico and, before a sea of euphoric supporters, promised: “I will not fail you. You will not be disappointed.”

Related: ‘Huge incentives to kill’: Mexico crime groups target election candidates

Mexico’s electoral tribunal upheld ruling barring two candidates, including one accused of rape, for failing to file expense reports

Mexico’s president has blasted a decision to disqualify two of his party’s gubernatorial candidates – including one accused of rape – describing the decision by Mexico’s electoral tribunal as “a blow to democracy”.

“Democracy is respecting the will of the people,” said Andrés Manuel López Obrador, known as Amlo, at his morning press conference on Wednesday. “In a democracy, it’s the people who decide. It’s the people who give orders.”

Decision drew the wrath of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has defended candidate Félix Salgado

Mexico’s elections agency has withdrawn ballot registration for a ruling-party state candidate who was nominated despite accusations of rape against him – but the move was made on technical grounds and not because of the allegations.

The decision drew the wrath of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has defended candidate Félix Salgado and criticized women’s groups who objected to his candidacy.