At least 100 bodies were removed from the crematorium of the Granjas Polo Gamboa colony this friday in Ciudad Juarez and 120 more were pending to be transferred, according to a source inside the Prosecutor’s Office.
However, it is estimated that there could be up to 350 bodies that were accumulated in this place, some with up to 2 years waiting to be cremated.
In the building, located at the intersection of Queretaro and Tapachula streets, dozens of bodies were found piled on top of each other, as if they were bales of clothes.
A dantesque scene: corpses of children, elderly adults and even embryos were found in different rooms of what looks like a huge house, but they were not embalmed, nor did they have the proper funeral treatment that a person deserves.
In the clothes they were wearing at the time of their death: in their pajamas, in their underwear and T-shirts, naked, and even some police officers with their uniforms on. Others were wrapped in blankets or tarpaulins.
Some were in an evident state of decomposition, with collapsed tissues and limbs falling off, with loss of muscle mass and necrotic tissue. But the worst was the foul smell, the putrefaction of hundreds of bodies, the source said.
Official: 90 corpses
Officially, as of 6:30 p.m. on friday, June 27, a total of 90 corpses had been removed by personnel of the Fiscalía Zona Norte and deposited in a refrigerated box, Javier Sánchez Herrera, director of Forensic Services of the Forensic Medical Service (SEMEFO), told the media.
He said that since it is not a crime as such and no instructions have been received from the Public Prosecutor’s Office, they will be kept in a refrigerated box.
He said that so far, the bodies are at the disposal of COESPRIS, not of the Prosecutor’s Office, since taking them to SEMEFO would mean that they would have to be admitted, and an investigation file would have to be opened.
“It would be irresponsible to give a figure, but as of today at 6:30 p.m., we have kept a total of 90 bodies”, he said on friday.
It operated with an expired permit since 2023
Plenitud Crematory operated with an expired environmental impact permit since March 2023, informed to Circuito Frontera, César René Díaz Gutiérrez, director of Ecology of the Municipality.
He said in an interview with this media that the last authorization was processed in 2022 and was valid until March 3, 2023, and has not been renewed since then.
Díaz Gutiérrez explained that this type of establishment does not require a specific municipal permit to operate the crematorium, since the health risk is evaluated and regulated by state agencies, such as the State Commission for Protection against Health Risks (COESPRIS).
He said that the operation of the furnace as such is subject to different regulations than those of an office or funeral parlor, where land use and other municipal permits are required, so that in the case of the crematory, the control falls directly on the health authorities.
The official emphasized that although the Directorate of Ecology does not grant authorization to operate as a funeral home, it does issue environmental impact reports and, in this case, the document is no longer in effect.
It is worth mentioning that Circuito Frontera conducted a review in the official page of the Public Registry of Adhesion Contracts of Profeco, where the operation contract of Crematorio Plenitud was not found, nor was it registered in the Public Registry of Commerce.
Sanctions to the crematory
The Plenitud Crematory, which provides its services to at least three funeral homes, according to state authorities at a press conference, had already received a sanction from COESPRIS in 2020, during the pandemic season, due to mishandling of the bodies inside.
According to newspaper archives, on June 8, 2020, neighbors of Colonia Granjas Polo Gamboa denounced that a foul odor was coming from the establishment that reached several meters away from the place.
The place was closed down by personnel from Protección Civil del Municipio, accompanied by personnel from COESPRIS who applied a fine.
This version was confirmed by Luis Carlos Tarín Villamar, state commissioner of COESPRIS, this friday, June 27, who pointed out that, despite the irregularities recently found at the place, the business will only face administrative and, if necessary, economic sanctions.
He also said that, on that occasion, the business paid a fine and took the necessary measures to operate, according to the corresponding sanitary dispositions.
The head of COESPRIS pointed out that the last revision made to the place was last February of this year and that no irregularities were found.
However, it is noteworthy that the State Attorney General, César Jáuregui Moreno, declared the same day that bodies had been found in the crematorium with up to 2 years in this business.
Likewise, the prosecutor of the Northern Zone, Carlos Manuel Salas, reiterated on several occasions that so far there is no crime to prosecute.
“These bodies have already been identified, they have their death certificate, they have the medical certificate, they have already had a wake, they have already been prepared. In other words, there is no crime, there is no crime”, he said.
