Five people have been arrested for involvement in the deaths of 39 people this week after a fire broke out in Mexico’s Ciudad Juárez refugee center this week, authorities said on Thursday.
The announcement came a day after the Attorney General’s office in a homicide investigation into the incident accused other officials at the facility of failing to take steps to evacuate the migrants.
The investigation came after CCTV footage surfaced showing guards marching as flames engulfed a cell where migrants were trapped.
Human rights lawyer Sara Irene Herrera told AFP at a press conference that five arrest warrants have already been executed. A total of six arrest warrants have been issued for three immigration officers, two private security guards and a migrant accused of setting the fire, without specifying which of them was arrested.
In a press conference, Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez said that 18 Guatemalans, seven Salvadorans, seven Venezuelans, six Hondurans and one Colombian had been killed. He said 10 Guatemalans, eight Hondurans, five Salvadorans and five Venezuelans were injured. Only one has been released so far.
Citing Wednesday’s photos, Rodríguez said a total of eight people have been identified as allegedly responsible for the disruption. The authenticity of’s registration by the government after three guards escaped, leaving the migrants in their cells as flames spread and smoke quickly filled the building.
According to AFP, at least one of the migrants set the fire to protest the deportations. Meanwhile, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has promised there will be “no impunity” for the tragedy that began on Monday.
Those responsible “for causing this painful tragedy will be punished under the law,” he added.
About 200,000 people attempt to cross the border between Mexico and the United States each month, most fleeing poverty, violence and political oppression in Central and South America.
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