A 16-minute video broadcast by 'El Diario de Juárez' has shed some light on the terrible fire that left 40 dead and 28 injured on March 27 in a migrant detention center in the capital of Chihuahua. The images captured by the security cameras of the facilities allow us to reconstruct, from different angles, the minute by minute of a tragedy that has completely exposed the weaknesses of the National Institute of Migration (INM) and the negligence with which its agents acted. So far there are 12 people charged for what happened, including the Venezuelan migrant who started the fire and the head of the INM, whom López Obrador maintains in office.
The first images correspond to 11:13 in the morning of March 27 and in them a line of 24 migrants can be seen walking in single file through the main corridor of the center, with their hands handcuffed behind their backs. Most of the victims had been detained that same day by immigration agents on the streets of Ciudad Juárez, where they were looking for their lives (some for months), while they waited for the resolution of their procedures to request asylum in the US. Local authorities have confirmed that that same day 60 migrants were detained in a raid, the majority of Venezuelan origin, many of whom ended up losing their lives hours later at the INM facilities.
Although it is officially a temporary migrant center and not a detention center, in practice, the INM facilities in Chihuahua function as a migration prison. A total of 68 migrants remained held in a common cell, with hardly any ventilation or furniture, apart from some thin colored mattresses scattered on the floor that, in the end, would become the incendiary material that would cause the death of the migrants. migrants. Around 2:33 pm, security cameras capture the detainees lining up inside the cell to receive food. Apparently the rations were not enough for everyone. At that moment, unrest began to grow which, together with the lack of water and the suspicion that they were going to be deported, was going to unleash the tragedy. They protested the lack of water and their imminent deportation
In his statement before the judge, Omar Indalecio, one of the guards from Camsa, the private security company contracted by the INM to work in downtown Juárez, claimed to have notified the head of material resources of the missing supplies. Apparently, this official had recommended that he give them tap water, but he refused because "the water was not drinkable because the water filters had not been changed for some time and had a yellow hue." Around 8:13 p.m., the patience of the migrants runs out and they begin to gather around the access door, making fuss and angrily demanding something from the guards. Little by little they begin to pile up the colored mats next to the gate while, on the other side, a security agent watches the scene impassively, reclining in a chair with his hands tied behind his neck.
At 8:30 p.m., a cloud of smoke began to rise from the main cell and, in a few minutes, began to spread throughout the facilities. In another shot, it is observed how she reaches the women's cell, in which there were 15 people who were immediately evicted. At 8:33 p.m., all the workers at the center have evacuated the building, while the flames devour the male cell with all the migrants inside. Presumably the person who had the keys to that cell was not in the building at the time of the fire. None of them thought of using the fire extinguishers to put out the flames, nor did they alert the emergency services. Coincidentally, a firefighter who was not on duty observed the column of smoke coming out of the detention center and notified his colleagues, who arrived at the scene after 9:30 p.m.
"It was a coincidence and that is why fortunately we can get people out alive," said the director of Civil Protection of Juárez, Roberto Briones. 37 of the 68 migrants trapped in that cell died during the fire and another three died later in hospitals. A total of 27 were injured and, one month after what happened, many are still hospitalized. To date, 23 of the bodies have already been repatriated to Honduras and Guatemala. The Venezuelan victims have not yet been returned to their countries of origin and their relatives have claimed that the Mexican government put too many "administrative difficulties" to carry out the repatriation.
A total of 12 people have been charged to date for their role in this tragedy, the worst in immigration matters so far in the six-year term. Three INM agents and two guards from the Camsa company have been arrested accused of crimes of injury and homicide. A sixth officer has been formally charged but is on the run. Jeison Daniel Catarí, a Venezuelan migrant accused of starting the fire, has also been detained. Another compatriot of his, who suffered from smoke intoxication and still requires assisted oxygen, is being held by the Attorney General's Office in a hotel in the city and is expected to also be charged in the coming days.
Despite the reluctance of the López Obrador government to purify responsibilities in the high spheres of the INM, a local lawyer sued the head of the organization in Chihuahua, Salvador González, for allegedly having ordered the custodians not to let the migrants leave from the cell, despite the fire. He is currently in pretrial detention along with three other officials: the center's head of human resources, the general director of Migration Control and Verification, and the coordinator of the Beta Group for Migrant Protection. The Prosecutor's Office has also charged Francisco Garduño, the head of the INM, but López Obrador is reluctant to dismiss him and reiterates that he will continue in his position until the investigations are concluded.
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