{"id":415707,"date":"2023-03-30T11:59:07","date_gmt":"2023-03-30T08:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/?p=415707"},"modified":"2023-03-30T11:59:07","modified_gmt":"2023-03-30T08:59:07","slug":"mexico-opens-homicide-probe-over-deadly-fire-at-migrant-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/mexico-opens-homicide-probe-over-deadly-fire-at-migrant-centre\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexico opens homicide probe over deadly fire at migrant centre"},"content":{"rendered":"

SONNA – Eight guards and officials face possible murder charges after a blaze at a Mexican migrant detention centre in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez killed 39 detained men.<\/p>\n

An investigation was opened \u201cfor the crime of homicide and damage to property\u201d though other possible charges will be considered, Sara Irene Herrerias, a prosecutor specialising in human rights, said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Dozens of people were locked in cells during the fire on Monday, witnesses and a survivor have said.<\/p>\n

All the victims were male and Mexico\u2019s government is under pressure to find out why they died after officials said women detainees at the centre were safely evacuated.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of the public servants or the private security personnel took any action to open the door for the migrants who were inside,\u201d Herrerias told reporters.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors have identified two federal agents, a state migration officer, and five members of a private security firm\u00a0who may be responsible\u00a0for the deaths, Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodriguez said at a news conference.<\/p>\n

\"People
People protest outside the National Institute of Migration in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico [File: Jose Luis Gonzalez]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A short video circulating on social media on Tuesday \u2013 appearing to be security footage from inside the centre during the blaze \u2013 showed men kicking on the bars of a locked door as their cell filled with smoke.<\/p>\n

Three uniformed people can be seen walking past without trying to open the door.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho didn\u2019t let these people out? Clearly there is a serious crime. They weren\u2019t capable of opening a gate,\u201d Rodriguez said, noting the video was part of the investigation.<\/p>\n

Emergency protocols and whether the private security company was properly trained would be examined, Rodriguez added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looks like these guards didn\u2019t have any training,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Authorities believe the fire, which killed mostly men from Guatemala and other Central American countries, was started by migrants setting alight mattresses in an act of protest when they discovered they would be deported.<\/p>\n

Rescue Team Ciudad Juarez, a private paramedic service, reached the building at 10:05pm and found men in military attire pulling people out of the men\u2019s unit, said a member of the group who was on site and declined to be named.<\/p>\n

Continuing tensions<\/h2>\n

The fire, one of the deadliest migrant tragedies in years, occurred as the\u00a0US and Mexico\u00a0are battling to cope with record levels of border crossings at their shared frontier.<\/p>\n

The high level of frustration in Ciudad Juarez was already evident earlier this month when hundreds of mostly Venezuelan migrants tried to force their way across one of the international bridges to El Paso, acting on false rumours that the United States would allow them to enter the country. US authorities blocked their attempts.<\/p>\n

After that, Ciudad Juarez Mayor Cruz P\u00e9rez Cuellar started campaigning to inform migrants there was room in shelters and no need to beg in the streets. He urged residents not to give money to them, and said authorities removed migrants from intersections where it was dangerous to beg and residents saw the activity as a nuisance.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the mayor said his office had not received any reports of rights abuses of migrants in detention facilities. He insisted his government shared no responsibility for what happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a terrible tragedy that pains all of us. We are grieving,\u201d he said, adding authorities should \u201ccome down with the full weight of the law on those responsible \u2013 the people that for instance, didn\u2019t open the doors for the migrants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source: Al Jazeera<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SONNA – Eight guards and officials face possible murder charges after a blaze at a Mexican migrant detention centre in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez killed 39 detained men. An investigation was opened \u201cfor the crime of homicide and damage to property\u201d though other possible charges will be considered, Sara Irene Herrerias, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":415708,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-415707","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415707"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":415709,"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415707\/revisions\/415709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}