Five people were arrested in the investigation into the fire which killed, on the night of Monday March 27 to Tuesday March 28, 39 migrants in Ciudad Juarez in northern Mexico, on the United States border.
“We have already executed five” arrest warrants in the investigation into the tragedy that occurred, said Thursday, March 30, at a press conference, the prosecutor specializing in human rights, Sara Irene Herrerias. The five people “have already been made available to the judge”, she added.
In total, the judge issued six arrest warrants against three officials of the National Institute of Migration (INM), two private security agents, and a migrant suspected of having started the fire, she detailed. The prosecutor did not specify who was among those arrested.
Investigation for “homicide”
Authorities gave details of the dead by nationality for the first time: eighteen Guatemalans, seven Salvadorans, seven Venezuelans, six Hondurans and one Colombian. Among the injured, there are five nationals of El Salvador, ten of Guatemala, eight Hondurans and five Venezuelans, detailed the secretary of security, Rosa Icela Rodriguez. One of them has been released from the hospital. The government is working on the issue of “helping families”, she said.
Heeding an incriminating video, Mexican authorities on Wednesday announced the opening of a “homicide” investigation into the detention center fire.
Broadcast by several media, a video showed the start of the fire. Behind bars, in the smoke, a man kicks against a closed door while another appears to put a mattress on the ground. They then retreat with other individuals. In the foreground, on the other side of the cell, three officers, two of whom are in uniform, walk off-screen with their backs to them, without giving them assistance.
“None of the officials or any of the private security police acted to open the door for the migrants who were inside, while there was fire,” said Sara Irene Herrerias Guerra, in a conference of press the day after the events. Eight suspected perpetrators have been identified.
