When a fire broke out at a Mexican immigration detention facility last month, dramatically different reactions by guards in the men’s and women’s sections appeared to make a difference in who lived and died.
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However once the fire started, no one tried to open it again despite the presence of guards nearby. Meanwhile, on the women’s side, a female security guard sprinted through the building with keys she said the immigration official in charge of that wing had given her. That official, Gloria Liliana Ramos, is among those charged with homicide.
On the evening of the fire, they show, male migrants began to press mattresses against the bars to block guards' view of what was happening inside. They also apparently unplugged surveillance cameras that they were able to access. An analysis of surveillance video by forensic investigator Luis Fermín Cal y Mayor for one of the defense teams concluded that the keys to the men's section were in the possession of the private security guards minutes before the fire started. That contradicts accounts from those guards in statements to government investigators saying that when the blaze began, they were in a bathroom filling jugs with water for the migrants and did not have the keys.
Ramos’ lawyer, Aglaeth González, said Ramos saved lives and should not be charged with a crime. González said she still has not been allowed access to surveillance videos, and immigration officials she tried to interview refused to talk citing fears of reprisals.
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Guard actions in Mexico fire seen as key to who lived, diedWhen a fire broke out at a Mexican immigration detention facility last month, dramatically different reactions by guards in the men’s and women’s sections appeared to make a difference in who lived and died. That's according to previously unreported surveillance videos and witness statements viewed by The Associated Press. Forty male detainees perished in the blaze, allegedly started by a male migrant in protest. But all 15 female detainees safely escaped from their side of the facility. A difference is that the women's section was unlocked in time for them to escape, while the men's area remained sealed until firefighters arrived and tore down a wall. Seven people have been charged in the case.
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