Mexico is investigating deaths from migrant fires as a potential murder
Mexican prosecutors introduced Wednesday the opening of a homicide investigation into the deaths of 39 migrants in a detention heart hearth, accusing officers of doing nothing to evacuate them.
Authorities confronted growing scrutiny over their dealing with of the catastrophe after surveillance video confirmed guards leaving as flames engulfed a cell holding migrants.
Sarah Irene Herrias, a public prosecutor specializing in human rights, mentioned an investigation had been opened into “homicide and injury to property”, though different potential crimes could be thought of.
“Not one of the public servants or personal safety personnel took any motion to open the door for the migrants who have been inside,” she instructed reporters.
Safety Minister Rosa Ichilla Rodriguez mentioned on the similar press convention that eight folks have been recognized allegedly chargeable for the fiasco following the fireplace, which started late Monday.
They embody two federal brokers and a state immigration official, in addition to 5 members of a personal safety agency.
Herrias mentioned prosecutors are asking for a number of warrants.
It added that an immigrant was accused of setting the fireplace by others who have been contained in the detention heart, with out giving particulars concerning the particular person.
President Andres Manuel López Obrador earlier vowed that there could be “no impunity” for the tragedy that occurred in Ciudad Juarez, throughout the border from El Paso within the US state of Texas.
“We is not going to conceal something,” he instructed reporters.
He added that these chargeable for “inflicting this painful tragedy will likely be punished based on the legislation.”
On Tuesday, López Obrador mentioned he believes the migrants set themselves on hearth to protest the deportations.
Within the video, whose authenticity has been confirmed by the federal government, three guards seem to flee shortly, leaving the migrants of their cell as flames and smoke shortly fill the constructing.
El Salvador, which mentioned a few of its residents have been significantly injured, demanded that the folks operating the ability be punished as a result of the video confirmed the migrants have been “left contained in the cells with no likelihood of reaching security”.
In Washington, White Home Press Secretary Karen Jean-Pierre referred to as the video “heartbreaking” and supplied her “condolences for the tragic lack of life.”
She mentioned officers from the 2 international locations are in touch, and have raised the opportunity of permitting among the injured to obtain medical help in the US.
A number of hundred migrants later tried to cross the border from Ciudad Juarez earlier than surrendering to a US border patrol, amid rumors that the US is permitting entry on humanitarian grounds, based on an AFP correspondent.
‘We need to know’ Dozens of migrants spent the evening exterior the Nationwide Institute of Migration (INM) facility in Ciudad Juarez, ready for details about their relations and associates.
“We need to know if they’re there or not,” mentioned Venezuelan Gilbert Zabaleta, who was searching for two associates.
Mexican authorities mentioned the lifeless and wounded 27, together with folks from Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela, El Salvador, Colombia and Ecuador.
A few of the injured have been “unrecognizable,” Dimas Escobar, an official on the Honduran embassy, instructed AFP in Ciudad Juarez, making it tough to find out their nationalities.
Migrants left candles and flowers throughout a vigil exterior the centre, demanding higher remedy by the authorities.
Migrants additionally staged protests in Mexico Metropolis and the south of the nation.
Condolences poured in from overseas, together with from Pope Francis.
“Allow us to pray for the immigrants who perished in a tragic hearth in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, that the Lord would obtain them into his kingdom and luxury their households,” he mentioned.
UN Secretary-Normal Antonio Guterres referred to as for a “thorough investigation” into the fireplace.
US President Joe Biden’s administration hopes to stem the file tide of migrants and asylum seekers who usually take harmful journeys organized by smugglers to succeed in the US.
About 200,000 folks attempt to cross the border from Mexico each month, most of them fleeing poverty and violence in Central and South America.
(AFP)
