Mexican president faces protest in Juárez over deadly fire at immigration center

Lauren Villagran, El Paso Times
·4 min read
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JUÁREZ — Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador faced a protest over a deadly fire at an immigration holding center when he arrived for a previously scheduled meeting with state officials.

López Obrador arrived in Juárez at 1 p.m. Friday to meet with Chihuahua-based officials of his Banco Bienestar, a project he has been promoting to deliver "financial support, scholarships and pensions to the most vulnerable sectors," according to a statement.

But the visit was met with anger in the border city where 39 migrants died of burns and smoke inhalation in a blaze Monday night at a migrant processing center. Some 68 migrants were being held behind bars at the National Migration Institute building located at the foot of the Stanton-Lerdo international bridge to El Paso.

Venezuelan migrants swarmed the presidential caravan as López Obrador departed his meeting at the Colegio de Bachilleres, a high school, through the gates of the city's central park.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador observes as his security tries to remove a Venezuelan migrant who attempted to stop the president’s vehicle as the president exited Colegio de Bachilleres school in Ciudad Juarez during his visit on March 31, 2023.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador observes as his security tries to remove a Venezuelan migrant who attempted to stop the president’s vehicle as the president exited Colegio de Bachilleres school in Ciudad Juarez during his visit on March 31, 2023.

They pounded on the white van where the Mexican president was riding shotgun. He opened the window and took the hand of a woman who pleaded with him as others pushed letters into his hand and cried for justicia, or justice, for the migrants.

López Obrador leaned toward one of the migrants and could be heard saying, "Yes, there will be justice."

More: 5 arrested in deadly Juárez fire at migrant facility

The area around the school and park was heavily guarded by Mexican National Guard, but neither the soldiers nor the president’s security officers stopped the migrants and protesters from blocking the presidential van.

Activists detained the van for several minutes as it inched forward. An activist screamed at the president: "Assassin!" she cried.

Migrants gather to protest AMLO visit

Activists on Thursday began circulating a call to protest López Obrador's visit. An unsigned message circulating via Whatsapp said: "Migrants have a real need for changes and answers and to express themselves. The situation is really critical."

About three dozen migrants and their supporters waited outside the school in hopes López Obrador would give them a chance to be heard. One of the migrants read the names of the 39 victims into a megaphone.

Charter buses carried in the president's supporters, who stood nearby holding signs of welcome decorated with hearts. Two women held a sign painted with bienvenidos in large letters and spoke to reporters about all the good López Obrador has done, listing his successes and support for the poor.But the migrants and activists drowned them out.

Before López Obrador exited his meeting and the migrants were still waiting, a Venezuelan girl, 13-year-old Ana Pavón, took a microphone and told a semicircle of reporters and photographers a harrowing story of maltreatment by Mexican authorities on her family's journey north.

"I am a migrant and want to be heard," she said. "We have the right to travel through this country. We're not animals and we're not pollos" — chickens, as migrants are called by smugglers — "who should die fried."She asked the Venezuelans present to join her in singing their national anthem. The voices of men became a chorus; tears kept her from singing.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador holds a news conference during a previous visit to Juárez on Aug. 9, 2021.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador holds a news conference during a previous visit to Juárez on Aug. 9, 2021.

Details of the blaze emerge

Details of the cause of the fire began emerging this week:

  • The Juárez Fire Department has no record of an emergency call from the National Migration Institute on Monday night, when migrants allegedly set fire to foam mattresses inside a locked cell, according to La Verdad de Juárez. Firefighters arrived "by coincidence" after responding to a call nearby and seeing smoke, the report said.

  • Detained migrants allegedly bought cigarettes and a lighter from guards at the migrant holding center, according to El Diario de Juárez. Two Venezuelans allegedly set fire to mattresses, the report said.

  • Five people have been arrested in connection with the fire, according to the Associated Press.

Most of the victims were men from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Venezuela. More than two dozen people remain hospitalized.

Consular officials from Guatemala and El Salvador were in Juárez on Friday trying to secure access to the bodies of their dead, but as of Thursday the Mexican government had yet to release the bodies.

Migrants hold a vigil this week at the gate of the Mexican facility in Juárez where 39 migrants died in a fire at the center as they were being detained Monday night.
Migrants hold a vigil this week at the gate of the Mexican facility in Juárez where 39 migrants died in a fire at the center as they were being detained Monday night.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Mexican president faces migrants, protesters over deadly Juárez fire