L.A. activists call for justice in condemning the deaths of 39 immigrants in Ciudad Juarez

People attend a vigil Tuesday for the victims of a fire at an immigration detention center that killed dozens in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. “I want to tell the Mexican government not to be so inhumane,” said Cecilia Rodríguez, president of the Honduran Alliance of Los Angeles and a native of Choluteca, a province in southern Honduras. Andrés Manuel López Obrador has to understand that these people do not want to live in Mexico, they just want to go through and get to the United States.” Mexican authorities have reported that 68 people of various nationalities were being detained at the center when the fire broke out, including migrants from Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela, El Salvador, Ecuador and Colombia. “This should reach the United Nations organization and the large organizations that defend human rights because this becomes part of a criminal structure that the Mexican government defends,” Ortiz said, referring to Monday’s deadly conflagration. “Mexico has to respect anyone on the migration route.” Meanwhile, officials at the various Central American consulates in Los Angeles have said they will provide assistance and information to any of their compatriots regarding the Ciudad Juarez tragedy.