The bodies of 7 migrants killed in a fire in Mexico arrive in El Salvador

( Spanish) — The bodies of the seven Salvadoran migrants killed in the fire at the immigration station in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, arrived in El Salvador this Sunday, reported the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of that country.

The coffins arrived by caravan and by land from Ciudad Juárez, a border town in northern Mexico. The Salvadoran authorities reported that the bodies have been delivered to the families of the victims so that they can bury them.

The Government of El Salvador reported that it has provided guidance and assistance to the next of kin of the victims from the departments of Ahuachapán, Sonsonate, La Libertad, San Salvador, Chalatenango and Morazán.

“I have closely followed this hard process with the families, accompanying them and offering them our full support. Just as they are experiencing this moment of pain, I also know that our country is hurt by this sad and condemnable event,” said Cindy Portal, vice minister of Diaspora and Human Mobility of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador.

The Foreign Ministry reported that it is also following up on the case of five Salvadorans who were injured and who remain hospitalized in different hospitals in Ciudad Juárez.

Due to the fire at the immigration station in the border city with the United States, registered on the night of March 27, 40 people died and 27 more were injured.

El Salvador considers that what happened at the facilities of the National Institute of Migration of Mexico was a State crime and demanded that the guilty be sentenced.

According to the Mexican government, pretrial detention has already been ordered against six people in this case: three immigration agents, two from a private security company that operated the center, and a migrant accused of starting the fire. The Attorney General’s Office is conducting the investigation.

After the fire, the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, said in his morning press conference that migrants caused the fire. According to the president, they were upset because they would be deported.

“This had to do with a protest that they started from, we suppose, when they found out that they were going to be deported, mobilized, and as a protest at the door of the shelter they put mattresses from the shelter, and they set fire to them and they did not imagine that this was going to cause this terrible misfortune,” said López Obrador.