“It is an act of deep respect, sincere and transparent so that it is not repeated again,” added the ex -commissioner. “The safety of people had to be guaranteed and there were human rights violations of the victims,” he added.
The fire at the Ciudad Juárez Migration Detention Center occurred in 2023 and the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) then opened a criminal investigation.
Garduño faced many criticism for refusing to leave his post after the tragedy. López Obrador also refused to replace him.
In 2023, the FGR determined that elements were found for Garduño to be tried as probable responsible for omissions.
Garduño was indicated by the lack of security of the migrants held and the conditions in which they were: without access to drinking water, food and in a station without emergency exits or civil protection protocols.
Garduño was prosecuted for the crime of illicit exercise of public service.
The former official today acknowledged that the migration staff acted with omissions and that there were violations of the human rights of migrants.
“I recognize that no gesture or word can relieve suffering or repair the immense pain; however, in this act I apologize and forgiveness,” he added.
When taking the floor on behalf of the families of the victims, Claudia Varela said that the apology cannot be accepted if there is no real justice for the fire of March 27, 2023, where his brother Daniel de Jesús Varela, 44, lost his life when he tried to migrate from El Salvador.
“We cannot accept this apology as long as there is no thorough, independent and transparent investigation that identifies those responsible, material and intellectuals, which we do not know so far,” he said.
In the name of all those affected by the fire, he demanded sentences for those responsible, psychological and medical care; Education for children and a reform to the Mexican immigration system that, he said, continues to criminalize people in mobility.
For the Foundation for Justice, Integral Human Rights in Action (DHIA), the Legal Clinic for Refugees and the Institute for Women in Migration (IMUMI), organizations that have accompanied the victims, the public apology is a first symbolic step in the comprehensive repair process of the damage. However, they underlined, it does not resolve the demands of justice or close the case.
They affirmed that an integral reparation must guarantee financial compensation to all victims, but it has not reached 15 surviving women, because they have not been recognized as victims.
Although the apology is personal, they demanded that the Mexican State be left out, but to modify immigration policy, eliminate migrant detention, guarantee the non -repetition of similar facts and comply with repair measures for victims and their families.
“The Mexican State must assume its responsibility and change the immigration policy that criminalizes, stops and wears migrants in the country. The 82 victims of this tragedy were in custody of the State and, as such, it has an inalienable responsibility to guarantee justice, repair and not repetition.”
