Five people were arrested so far in Mexico in relation to the death of 39 migrants due to a fire in an immigration stay in the border city of Ciudad Juárez, Mexican authorities said Thursday.
(You may be interested in: Revealing fire video: migrants were locked up and guards fled)
“The Attorney General of the Republic had requested four arrest warrants (detention). But today at dawn the hearing ended and six arrest warrants were granted.“, detailed in a press conference Sara Irene Herrerías, head of the specialized prosecutor’s office in human rights of the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic (FGR).
He explained that there are three officials from the National Institute of Migration (INM), two private security police officers and the person who started the fire. At the moment, he shared, five of the arrest warrants have been fulfilled, although he did not specify who is the person who has not yet been brought to justice.
(Also read: “They only said they burned”: outrage of migrant family after fire)
On the other hand, Herrerías explained that the FGR requested the documentation that accredit the operation of these migratory stations to know what their obligations are “and what were their punishable actions or omissions.”
And he specified that these facilities, called provisional stays, They are created to “provisionally” accommodate people who do not prove their regular stay in the country and until they are taken to another type of INM facility.
Inside the station were several private security employees of the company Grupo de Seguridad Privada Camsa SA de CV, whose partners are David Vicente Salazar Gasca and George Mcphail Trouyet.
The Secretary of Public Security and Citizen Protection, Rosa Icela Rodríguez, announced that a first irregularity regarding the company could be known: only had reported four security agents with 10 uniforms.
(Also: Why does Amlo hold migrants responsible for the fire that left 39 dead?)
“However, the contract with the INM was for 503 elements in facilities located in 23 states of the country“, shared the secretary. For this reason, the investigation will continue, which, Rodríguez assured, will determine the responsibilities of the company but also of the INM.
About the origin of the 39 deceased migrants, Rodríguez said that six are Honduransseven Salvadorans, 18 Guatemalans, one Colombian and seven Venezuelans.
damage repair
The head of the SSPC said that by instruction of the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the process will begin to achieve reparation for the damage to the relatives of the victims. “We know that the pain caused by a loss of life can never be overcome, but it is our obligation to protect the families of the victims.“, he added.
Finally, both officials assured that they cannot give further details about the investigation since the investigations have to continue and the hearings are taking place.
(Also read: Officials did nothing to evacuate migrants during the fire: Prosecutor)
The Mexican president promised this Thursday morning that there will be no impunity after the fire that killed the migrantsbut evaded answering if the head of the National Migration Institute (INM), Francisco Garduño Yáñez, will resign, and if the private security company in charge of the immigration station belongs to a Nicaraguan consul.
“There will be no impunity, those responsible will be punished, and I spoke with the prosecutor (general, Alejandro Gertz) to ask him not to take any kind of consideration more than to do justice. Let them act with professionalism, absolute freedom,” he declared this Thursday at his daily press conference.
The scrutiny of the Government of Mexico has grown since Monday’s fire at an INM migration station in Ciudad Juárez, on the border with the United States, where there were almost 70 migrants from Guatemala, El Salvador, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela held for their deportation.
(Also: Why does a fire in an immigration center fuel tension on the US-Mexico border?)
Leaked security videos show agents impassive while detained migrants They asked that the door be opened, and compatriots of the victims have denounced that the tragedy “could be avoided”.
The Mexican president avoided answering if the company Servicios Especializados de Investigación y Custody (Seicsa) was in charge of the private security of the immigration center and is owned by Elías Gerardo Valdés, Nicaraguan consul in Nuevo León and Coahuila, who has received multimillion-dollar contracts from the Government, as reported by the LatinUs media.
Similarly, he evaded demanding the resignation of Garduño Yáñez, head of the INM, despite the claims of the opposition and human rights defenders. The Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC) announced on Wednesday that he has identified eight alleged perpetrators of the fire which include two federal agents, a state immigration agent and five agents from the private security company.
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EFE
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