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Mexican President Vows to Deliver Justice for Migrants Killed in Fire


Migrants speak next to an altar outside the migrant detention center where several migrants died after a fire broke out late on Monday, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, March 29, 2023.
Migrants speak next to an altar outside the migrant detention center where several migrants died after a fire broke out late on Monday, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, March 29, 2023.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Wednesday vowed to bring to justice whoever was responsible for the deaths of 38 migrants in a fire at a migrant holding center in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez this week.

Authorities believe the fire late on Monday, which killed mostly men from Guatemala and other Central American countries, was started by migrants setting alight mattresses in an act of protest when they discovered they would be deported.

An investigation is underway to determine what happened at the center, which Lopez Obrador said employed staff from the government's National Migration Institute (INM) as well as personnel from a private contractor.

"There'll be no attempt to hide the facts, no attempt to cover for anyone," he told a news conference.

All the victims were male, and Mexico's government is under pressure to find out why they died after officials said that the women migrants at the center were successfully evacuated.

A short video circulating on social media on Tuesday - appearing to be security footage from inside the center during the blaze - showed men kicking on the bars of a locked door.

Three uniformed people can be seen walking past without trying to open the door. Interior Minister Adan Augusto Lopez later appeared to confirm the video's veracity to local media.

The fire, one of the deadliest migrant tragedies in years, occurred as the U.S. and Mexico are battling to cope with record levels of border crossings at their shared frontier.

Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Tuesday evening that those "directly responsible" had been handed over to the attorney general's office. He provided no further details.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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