Bodies of dead migrants who died in a fire in an INM detention center in El Paso, México, lay on the ground covered with isolating blankets. Photo: Associated Press.
The president of México, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), promised an exhaustive investigation into the fire that occurred this Monday, March 27, at a migration detention center in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua state, on the border with the United States, which killed 39 Central and South American migrants, and where about 29 were wounded.
During his regular press conference this Wednesday, March 29, the head of state expressed his condolences to the relatives of the victims of Venezuelan, Guatemalan, Salvadoran, Ecuadorian, and Colombian nationalities.
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In a statement made this Tuesday evening, in which the National Agency for Migrations (INM) revised down the death toll from 40 to 37 in the station itself and two more who died in hospital, it listed the names of 68 inmates at the detention center, without clarifying who on the list had or had not survived. According to Mexico’s attorney general, 28 Guatemalans, 13 Hondurans, 12 Salvadorans, 12 Venezuelans, one Colombian, and one Ecuadorian were among the 68 people affected by the blaze.
Guatemala’s General Directorate of Migration has confirmed that 28 of the dead were Guatemalans, while Venezuelan local news outlets mention eight Venezuelans deaths in the incident.
Como era de esperarse, el presidente Andrés Manuel @lopezobrador_ expresó sus condolencias a los familiares de las personas fallecidas, así como a sus países. Desde ayer se informó que el gobierno mexicano se hará cargo de los gastos funerarios y de repatriación @ConexiontlSUR pic.twitter.com/V1RqkNxthA
— Daniel Rosas (@danieltelesur) March 29, 2023
The president asked the Attorney General of the Republic (FGR) to open an investigation, and to not show any type of impunity in punishing those responsible, in accordance with Mexican law. “This government,” he remarked, “doesn’t allow human rights violations.”
From what is known thus far, negligence led to the deaths of the migrants, and caused injuries to others. Staff at the Ciudad Juárez migration detention centre are hired by the INM from a security company, the president noted.
La SRE ha solicitado a la Secretaría de Gobernación y al INAMI la información necesaria para compartirla con los países hermanos mencionados .
— Marcelo Ebrard C. (@m_ebrard) March 29, 2023
Videos broadcast on social media networks show security guards not responding to calls for help from people locked in the cells, and AMLO confirmed the veracity of the images.
The president said that the authorities will not act summarily without first knowing what really happened. The Mexican minister for foreign affairs, Marcelo Ebrard, also confirmed via social media that those directly responsible for the fire were presented before the Prosecutor’s Office.
(Almayadeen) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/AU
