Translated by Jesús Ronquillo / Circuito Frontera
The defense of Juan Carlos Meza Cumplido, coordinator of Grupo Beta, one of those allegedly involved in the case of the National Migration Institute, where last March 27, 40 people lost their lives and 27 more were injured, will use more than 16 hours of footage from the security cameras of the building.
Click here for the Spanish version
Circuito Frontera had access to this material and interviewed Manuel Pineda Contreras, head of Legal Estudio Jurídico and defense attorney of Juan Carlos Meza Cumplido, coordinator of Grupo Beta.
He commented that his client is being accused for his alleged guilt in the fateful event registered in the temporary migration stay, despite the fact that he was assigned to the Tornillo zone, 60 kilometers away from the place where the event took place.
The lawyer referred that the Prosecutor’s Office omitted evidence in his client’s trial, such as the videos of the Institute’s security cameras.
It has been mentioned that the migrants started the fire because they did not have water or food, which is false, as can be seen in the videos.
The lawyer insisted that the fire was started by the migrant population and the reaction mechanisms and protocols were carried out, however, the keys were guarded by the personnel of the private company.
He pointed out that they are analyzing the situation in order to file an appeal or an amparo trial against the decision of the judge who approved the binding to process of his client.

In addition, he considered that some constitutional and procedural norms were violated in the resolution of the district judge in the indictment, while the Prosecutor’s Office was not objective at the moment of presenting its investigation background.
It should be recalled that Juan Carlos Meza Cumplido, together with Eduardo M, are accused of the crimes of homicide, injuries and improper exercise of public service, under the criminal case 235/2023, for which they were sentenced to trial on April 19.