(Mexico) Operation transparency: taking into account an accusatory video, the Mexican authorities announced on Wednesday the opening of an investigation for “homicide” after the death of 39 migrants in the fire of a detention center in Ciudad Juárez at the United States border.
“None of the civil servants nor any of the private security police took the slightest action to open the door to the migrants who were inside (of a cell, editor’s note) while there was fire”, a said human rights prosecutor Sara Irene Herrerías Guerra at a press conference.
Eight presumed officials have been identified, indicated for her part the Secretary (Minister) for Security, Rosa Icela Rodriguez, during this press conference less than 48 hours after the facts.
The alleged perpetrators – three agents from the National Institute for Migration (INM) and five agents from a security company – “are already being heard” by the prosecution, continued the prosecutor.
“The offense for which the file (of investigation) was opened is the offense of homicide”, she specified, also mentioning the offense of “injury” and “damage to the property of others”.
A migrant was also “flagged” by other migrants as the person responsible for the fire, she added, without further details.
The prosecutor confirmed the authenticity of a 32-second video broadcast by several media, including AFP: “This video is part of the investigation file,” she said.
These CCTV images show the start of the fire in the night from Monday to Tuesday. Behind bars, in the smoke, a man kicks against a closed door while another appears to put a mattress on the floor.
In the foreground, three officers withdraw with their backs to the people locked up behind bars, without giving them assistance.
“How is it possible that the Mexican authorities left human beings locked up without any possibility of escaping the fire? “Said Erika Guevara Rosas, director of Amnesty International for the Americas, in a press release.
“Government, assume your responsibilities,” read a banner held up by a protester at a rally in Mexico City on Wednesday.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador had promised that there would be no “impunity” by asking that “those who caused this painful tragedy be punished in accordance with the law”.
Balance sheet revised upwards
During the press conference, the Secretary of Security revised the death toll upwards from 38 to 39. She also mentioned 27 injured, including six in “extremely serious” condition, ten in serious condition, and nine in a “delicate” situation.
The authorities have still not given details of the nationality of the victims, mentioning their country of origin, mainly from Central America (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras) and Venezuela.
Guatemala said on Tuesday that 28 of its nationals had died. El Salvador spoke of four seriously injured, asking that those responsible for the tragedy be brought to justice.
Authorities confirmed the fire was started by migrants protesting their possible deportation.
Several of them had been arrested in the streets of Ciudad Juárez, where they were begging or washing windshields at intersections in an attempt to survive.
Ciudad Juárez, neighboring El Paso (Texas), is one of the border towns from which many undocumented migrants seek to reach the United States to seek asylum after a long journey.
On Wednesday, “more than 1,000 migrants” entered the United States illegally, US border guards said, adding that they would deport them.
“The rumors about the opening of the border after the tragedy in Ciudad Juárez are completely false,” said the American consulate in this border town on Twitter.
The drama caused reactions beyond the borders of Mexico. “We pray for the migrants who died yesterday in the tragic fire in Ciudad Juárez,” Pope Francis said.
The United Nations has advocated for “safer” migration routes to the United States and the US ambassador to Mexico has insisted on “fixing a broken migration system” with partners in the region.
Some 200,000 people attempt to cross the border between Mexico and the United States each month. Migrants say they want to escape poverty or violence in their countries of origin.
Since 2014, around 7,661 migrants have died or disappeared en route to US territory, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).