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The Mexican Prosecutor’s Office reported that it filed an accusation against the head of the National Institute of Migration, Francisco Garduño, and other officials of the entity for the fire last March in a migrant detention center in which 40 foreigners died. The accusing body points to an alleged negligence on the part of the authorities regarding the tragedy that, according to President Andrés López Obrador, broke out in the middle of a protest.
Mexico tries to prosecute all the alleged perpetrators linked to the deadly fire on March 27, in a detention center for undocumented migrants in Ciudad Juárez, on the border with the United States, where 40 foreigners died.
The Attorney General of the Republic reported that it initiated criminal proceedings against six public officials, including the head of the National Institute of Migration (INM), Francisco Garduño, and the highest representative of the agency in the northern state of Chihuahua, where the events occurred. Salvador Gonzalez.
According to a statement issued by the prosecuting entity on the night of Tuesday, April 11, the high-ranking officials were negligent because they did not “monitor, protect, or guarantee the safety of the people and facilities in their charge.”
“They indicate a pattern of irresponsibility,” added the Prosecutor’s Office, explaining that the officials did not prevent the disaster despite previous indications and problems in the detention centers of the National Institute of Migration.
#Now | The Prosecutor’s Office #Mexico reported on Tuesday that it will proceed criminally against the head of the National Migration Institute (INM), Francisco Garduño, among other officials, for the death of 40 migrants in a fire inside an immigration station. #EN6 pic.twitter.com/YoqpUNNntH
– The News (@elnoticiero_6) April 12, 2023
The statement also indicated that the conduct of González and other officials would have led to the death of the migrants.
For this same case, last March five other people were arrested. Among them, INM agents, a private security guard and a Venezuelan migrant, accused of being the one who started the fire. All of them were charged with manslaughter and assault.
Mexican President points out that the victims died for the lack of keys
In his usual morning press conference, the country’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, assured that the victims had not been able to escape the fire since the person who had the key to their cell was not there.
“Everything indicates that there was a protest, they set fire to some mattresses and a fire breaks out, but above all there is poisoning, because the door was closed, because whoever had the key was not there,” said the Mexican president.
The head of state thus ruled out that it was a premeditated suicide.
Nobody acts that way, they are not going to commit suicide, well, no. It was a protest (…) Noor they were thinking that the door was closed”, he stressed.
According to Mexican civil organizations, 2022 was the most tragic year for migrants in Mexico. Around 900 died in the attempt to cross without documents from that country to the United States.
With Reuters, AP and local media
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