Ten plains say: speaking of mishaps and/or tragedies in the government exercise, public officials must avoid referring to such facts as “accidents.”
Yesterday, President Claudia Sheinbaum appointed the death of 40 people at a station of the National Migration Institute (INM) in 2023 as a “accident.” It is a mistake that contradicts the image of someone seeking and demanding excellence in the public function.
Because in the fire of March 27, 2023 in Ciudad Juárez, in addition to 40 deceased people there were dozens injured. And that tragedy was not fortuitous, a thing of bad luck or fate. It was, at least, government negligence.
Everybody saw the images where the managers of the Migratory Center flee, leaving, inhumanly, to migrants. Scenes that show lack of emergencies, no reaction in Civil Protection, etc.
How it will have been terrible what happened even the Enlenque National Human Rights Commission of Rosario Piedra issued the 111VG/2023 recommendation, in which it denounces serious violations and indicates the responsibility of several dependencies of the previous government.
And while it is true that the Mexican government initiated a process of compensation to the families of the victims, it is also that López Obrador and even President Sheinbaum covered the then head of the INM, Francisco Garduño.
Morena is characterized by her closure when attending claims with respect to officials who fail in office. However, few have been so protected despite their poor performance as Garduño, to the point that only very recently left the INM.
And until the last minute Garduño came out with his: not only remained in the INM more than two years after the terrible fire of that mousetrap that was the Juarez’s immigration station, but he left without fulfilling another of his duties: he did not make the public apology.
As part of the case resolution process, those responsible for the INM had to offer an apology. On a couple of occasions dates were handled for it. Today the victims are still waiting for an institutional act of the dimension of the huge failure.
And although Garduño is already a history, because President Sheinbaum was finally able to put this month at his designated (Sergio Salomón Céspedes, former governor of Puebla), it seems that the president cannot name things by her name.
This Thursday at La Mañanera, Sheinbaum asked about Solomon Céspedes, after which he was questioned if they were going to review “also the facilities of the migratory stations for civil protection issues?”
-Those centers changed completely from the accident, it was completely changed, it was Sheinbaum’s response.
President Sheinbaum when starting her government stipulated, with all reason, that what is not appointed does not exist.
The tragedy of the immigration station can be called “unfortunate event”, which is; or “terrible tragedy”, which is also the case; or “government failure that cannot be repeated”, of course. But appointing it as “accident” reduces its severity, and something worse: what happened in Juarez has no positive side; by no means. But they can be taken out of these facts lessons so that the probability of a similar thing is very low or practically non -existent.
The condition for that learning is to name the death of those 40 people who were in the protection of the government in many ways, but never as an “accident.”
