A breakthrough in the case offire of the migrant center of Ciudad Juarez, in Mexico. The tragedy took place on Tuesday 28 March at the border with the United States. The flames had broken out following a protest during which the guests of the National Migration Institute (Inm) had set fire to some mattresses. According to a first version of the Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, guests were unable to go out due to mattresses that prevented them from going out. In the video released by the local press, the reality that presents itself is quite different. The dead were 39.
Massacre of migrants in Mexico, the facts
On Tuesday 28 March, a revolt broke out in the National Migration Institute (INM) of Ciudad Juarez, on the border between Mexico and the United States, by the migrants who were in the structure.
The guests started a fire using the mattressesand the event turned into a tragedy: among the people involved have been registered 39 dead and 29 others remained burned.
At first, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that the migrants had been blocked inside the structure due to the position of the mattresses, which would have blocked the exit routes from the centre.
The video that frames the supervisors
In the last few hours, the local press organs, including ‘El Universal’, have released a video that shows a very different reality: the agents in charge of surveillance have closed the exits and left the building, thus leaving the migrants imprisoned in the flames and the smoke.
The Minister of the Interior Adam Augusto Lopez confirmed the authenticity of the video, but made no statement. With these images, therefore, the version of a possible responsibility of the migrants in the massacre is reversed.
The migrants who lost their lives in the fire came from Guatemala, Venezuela and Honduras.
The reasons for the protest
Even on the reasons that triggered the protest, the sources are conflicting. According to the opinions released by the authorities in the early hours, the migrants protested against some administrative decisions.
According to some relatives of the victims and survivors, however, the protests would have broken out as the guests would not have received water from the morning, so they felt a strong seven and they could not drink. For this they would have set fire to the mattresses.
In any case, according to the UN spokeswoman Stephane Dujarric, Guterres intends to open an in-depth investigation to shed light on the tragedy.
Mexico has recently faced other tragedies: six women were found charred in Guanajuato, a terrible feminicide as the epilogue of a crime.
Photo source: ANSA