The priest Javier Calvillo, director of the Casa del Migrante de Juárez, explains that the Venezuelan migrants are abandoned because the Mexican government says it will support the relatives with the transfer of the bodies, but the State Attorney General’s Office argues that the procedures they must be managed by the Venezuelan authorities
Venezuelans and activists denounced this Thursday, April 6, the lack of support from the Nicolás Maduro administration to help the victims and repatriate the bodies after the fire that killed 40 migrants in Ciudad Juárez, on the northern border of Mexico.
Migrants consulted by EFE demanded the action of the Venezuelan authorities to intervene in the identification and repatriation of the deceased victims last week at a station of the National Institute of Migration (INM) of Mexico.
The South Americans said they were distressed and desperate because they did not know the whereabouts of their relatives.
They even denounced that there are those who come to offer them help to find their relatives and repatriate them on the condition that they collect 40% of the compensation that the Mexican authorities will give them.
*Read also: Mexican NGOs demand independent forensics to examine fire victims at INM
“There are cases, as with the brothers of Venezuela, in which there are no concrete actions. We are concerned that the Venezuelan Consulate does not have a presence and the federal government does not have a clear presence for them,” accused the priest Javier Calvillo, director of the Casa del Migrante de Juárez.
He added that the migrants from Venezuela are being abandoned because the Mexican government says it will support the relatives with the transfer of the bodies, but the State Attorney General’s Office argues that the procedures must be managed by the Venezuelan authorities.
The facts show that the crisis persists after the night of March 27, a fire at the INM center, on the Mexico-United States border, killed 40 migrants, including six Hondurans, seven Salvadorans, 18 Guatemalans, one Colombian and seven Venezuelans.
* Also read: Video reveals that officials left migrants locked up in the fire in Mexico
In addition to the deceased, the accident left 27 injured, of whom 23 remain hospitalized and so far only four have been discharged. There were about 70 migrants at the immigration station.
Meanwhile, Jessica denounced that she has not been informed about the whereabouts of her partner.
«my husband is missing, he was in high school when the fire happened. The Venezuelan ambassador does not take the matter seriously, they have this process behind, they do not do their job, “he accused.
She added that in the Chihuahua State Attorney General’s Office, in Ciudad Juárez, they tell her that the Venezuelan authorities are the ones that should inform her about where her husband is.
So far five people face criminal proceedings for this fire.
This Wednesday, April 5, relatives of at least six Hondurans who died in the fire traveled to Mexico to identify their remains.
According to Mexican civil organizations, 2022 was the most tragic year for migrants in Mexico, as some 900 died trying to cross without documents from the country to the United States.
The region is experiencing a record migratory flow, with 2.76 million undocumented immigrants detained at the United States border with Mexico in fiscal year 2022.
With information from EFE
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