In the March 27 fire at the Ciudad Juárez detention center in northern Mexico, 40 migrants died, including 18 Guatemalans, seven Salvadorans, seven Venezuelans, six Hondurans and one Colombian. Local authorities did not report the latest fatality.
The remains of the seven Salvadorans were transported in a hearse from Ciudad Juárez, a journey of 3,500 kilometers, due to the difficulty of getting flights during Holy Week, Portal explained.
“We gave ourselves the task that the best and most expeditious way to repatriate the bodies of compatriots was by land,” he said.
“On April 6, that hearse left Ciudad Juárez,” with a police escort, and the company guaranteed that it would arrive in the country in 72 hours, added the vice minister.
The Mexican authorities reported the capture of a migrant accused of causing the fire and four officials accused of not having done anything to save the inmates.
On March 29, El Salvador expressed “its strongest condemnation” for the actions of the detention center staff and this Sunday Portal urged Mexico to continue with this judicial process.
The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has promised that the case will not go unpunished.