Obrador: No Impunity to those who left migrants burn in Juarez
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Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador proclaimed that there would be "no impunity" for those behind the fire at the detention center at the northern borders which allowed for the death of 38 migrants.
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Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gives his regularly scheduled morning press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City, Feb. 28, 2023 (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador proclaimed that there would be "no impunity" for those behind the fire at the detention center at the northern borders which allowed for the death of 38 migrants.
"We will not hide anything and there will be no impunity," the Mexican President said at a daily press briefing referring to the detention center disaster which happened on Monday.
Those who will be convicted for "causing this painful tragedy will be punished in conformity with the law," he said.
#Mexican President Andrés López Obrador said at his daily press briefing that the "very regrettable and very sad" catastrophe began on Monday night when migrants detained at the detention center set fire to their mattresses, presumably in protest of their impending deportation.… pic.twitter.com/P4W68N5sXS
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) March 28, 2023
Earlier on Monday, a fire was believed to have been started by migrants in Ciudad Juarez protesting their deportation; resulting in the death of 38, and the injury of 28.
Mexican authorities reported that the victims included migrants of different nationalities: Guatemalan, Honduran, Venezuelan, Salvadoran, Colombian, and Ecuadorian.
Guards in a detention facility in northern Mexico rapidly left after migrants lit mattresses on fire and placed them against the bars of their cells, as per security footage released Tuesday. There was no apparent attempt to free the men before smoke filled the space and killed 38.
Read more: Guards walk away during fire that killed 38 migrants on US border
Video showcases guards walking away during fire
Two guards run into the camera's field of view in the footage, and one or more migrants can be seen by the metal gate on the other side. But the guards made no attempt to open the cell doors and instead fled as the building quickly filled with billowing clouds of smoke.
The video's authenticity was confirmed by Adán Augusto Lopez, Mexico's interior secretary, in a conversation with local journalist Joaqun López Doriga.
Mexican authorities reported that the victims included migrants of different nationalities: Guatemalan, Honduran, Venezuelan, Salvadoran, Colombian, and Ecuadorian.
On Tuesday, roughly 100 migrants gathered in front of the immigration center to get information about family members.
Read next: Two dead after 15 migrants found locked in train car for hours: Texas
Following the disaster, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a "thorough investigation."
Ciudad Juarez, which neighbors Texas, has been a hotspot of irregular migration into the United States.
About 200,000 people try to cross the Mexican-American border on a monthly basis, most of them fleeing poverty and prosecution in Central and South America.
