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The Attorney General’s Office Mexico agreed to proceed criminally against the head of the Migration’s national institute for the case of 40 migrants who died locked up in a deadly fire that occurred last month at a detention center in Juarez City.
Francisco Garduno He will be prosecuted for alleged criminal conduct by failing to comply with his obligations to monitor, protect and provide security to the people and facilities under his charge, a federal official confirmed to the Associated Press.
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For this case, the Attorney General also decided to proceed criminally against Antony “N”, director of the INMand public servants savior “N”, Juan “N”, Cecilia “N” and Eduardo “N”, who, according to a statement from the agency, “are directly linked to the conduct that led to the homicides and the injuries suffered by the victims” on the night of March 27.
The AP asked Migration for a reaction on the action of the Prosecutor’s Office, but there were no comments at the moment.
Five people — three immigration officials, a private guard and the Venezuelan migrant who allegedly started the fire — were already under investigation, prosecuted for alleged homicide and injuries, since thirty people were injured in the event. Most of the 40 victims came from countries of Central America.
Regarding the inquiries about what happened, the Mexican president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obradoralso said Tuesday that the guards did not have the keys to the cell when the fire started at the detention center in Juarez Cityborder town with Texas.
In video footage from a security camera, guards can be seen leaving the room while he started a fire on some mattresses inside the cell where dozens of migrants were held, without making any attempt to free them.
So far it is not clear who had the keys to the cell or if there was more than one set, but the Mexican president affirmed on Tuesday that the poisoning that caused the death of the migrants took place because “who had the key was not there”.
Before the Mexican Prosecutor’s Office announced the involvement of the head of Migration, the government of Guatemala confirmed that the bodies of 17 Guatemalan migrants who died in the deadly fire had arrived in the country, at the Guatemalan Air Force, and that they were received, between tears and sadness, by their relatives.
MORE INFORMATION: Judge opens trial against probable perpetrators of death of 40 migrants
“Daddy, mijo, my love”, was heard in the midst of silence at the time of receiving the remains of the victims. The coffins, with the Guatemalan flag on top, were placed in a line, with wreaths of flowers and photographs in life of the migrants.
Diego Cojuncle of Manuel Alexander Chox, one of the deceased, said that the migrant’s family was shocked, that they still could not believe the tragedy and that they were waiting for justice. “Right now we are waiting for the body of our relative, for the authorities to investigate so that they answer for their livesCoj said.
Among the deceased is Bacilio Sutuja 51-year-old Guatemalan native of San Martin Jilotepeque -in the department of chimaltenango– that he had not told his family of his intention to migrate until two days before the fire, when he told them that he had been detained by Mexican immigration.
Guatemalan Foreign Minister Mario Bucaroaccompanied the repatriation of the bodies in a Mexican Air Force plane and, upon their arrival in Guatemala, described the fire in which the migrants died while in the custody of the Mexican immigration authorities as a terrible tragedy.
He added that he will look forjudgment, punishment and reparation” and that, under Mexican law, the Guatemalan government became an intervening party in the federal criminal proceedings opened on this fact. According to the Mexican federal government, the entire chain of responsibilities and irregularities regarding civil protection measures in case of emergency will be analyzed.
After the arrival of the bodies and a minute of silence, funeral home personnel paid by the Guatemalan government loaded the coffins into trucks to take them to their communities. Most will arrive at their destinations at dawn on Wednesday to be veiled and some buried on Thursday.
The deceased Guatemalans were from nine different departments in the northern and western regions of the country, peasant and indigenous regions hit by poverty and malnutrition.
ALSO SEE: The number of migrants killed by fire in Mexico rises to 40
The repatriation tasks for the victims began last week, first with the remains of a Colombian and the previous Friday with seven Salvadorans. On Tuesday, the 17 Guatemalans and another six Hondurans.
Two separate Mexican Air Force planes transported the coffins of the deceased migrants to Guatemala and Honduras. In addition, the Guatemalan foreign minister, the vice consul of Honduras in Mexico, Darwin Medinaaccompanied the procedures and the relatives of the victims.
According to the Guatemalan Foreign Ministry, 19 of the 40 deceased were of Guatemalan origin. However, two of the deceased who are believed to be Guatemalans were not repatriated as their identity could not be fully established because one had no identification document and the other had burns on his hands that prevented fingerprinting. The Guatemalan authorities will carry out DNA tests to identify them.
Source: Elcomercio
I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.
