AMLO accuses media of ‘sensationalism’ after deadly Mexico migrant fire
Anna Giaritelli
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Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador lashed out at reporters who asked questions about a fire that killed 38 immigrants inside a government-run immigration facility in Ciudad Juarez this week.
During a press conference Wednesday, Lopez Obrador accused journalists of “sensationalizing” the incident for personal gain and operating by a different standard than they did under previous presidents.
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“We are not going to hide anything. We are not the same as those who fabricated crimes, hid things, tortured — so that people, some of them innocent, would be blamed. It is no longer the time of the authoritarian governments that we suffered in Mexico when most of the media that you represent, with all due respect, kept silent and did not care about human rights,” Lopez Obrador said.
“Now they are the champions of yellow journalism, of sensationalism. They traffick in human pain. And it is not because of justice, but because they are eager to return to continue stealing, as they used to do, corrupt politicians, influence peddlers, media owners, famous journalists, etc.,” the president said.
The fire at the National Migration Institute detention center started Monday in what Lopez Obrador claimed was an angry response by immigrants who had learned that they would be deported.
Video from inside the building showed the fire spreading inside and guards walking past jail cells where people were locked inside and screamed for help. The trapped men were killed in the fire.
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Lopez Obrador reported Wednesday that the latest count of fatalities stood at 38 though it could rise. Approximately 68 men from Central and South America were detained at the time of the fire.
Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard vowed on Tuesday to refer those responsible to the attorney general’s office.