The organization Disability Rights International (DRI), which is dedicated to the promotion and protection of the rights of people with disabilities, denounced on Wednesday that in Guatemala minors who survived the fire of a state foster home that occurred in 2017 and that killed 41 girls, they are still at risk due to the lack of State protection and that of the 600 minors held in the place on the day of the tragedy, 61 have died in different circumstances, including violence.
The report “Still at Risk: Death and Disappearance of Survivors of the Virgen de la Asunción Safe Home”, says that of the 600 minors detained when the incident occurred, Amber alerts (Alba-Keneth in Guatemala) have been activated to search for 94 girls and children who have disappeared or are still missing and there are still 160 minors who remain inside the institution, most of them with disabilities.
The organization said that an official government report they had access to detailed that they are tracking 40 women, whom it refers to as “survivors of the fire,” but that it has not been able to locate at least 11 of them.
“The government has not taken the necessary steps to protect survivors, let alone provide them with the support and reparations to which they are entitled as survivors of violations in the custody of the State,” explained Eric Rosenthal, Executive Director of DRI in a press release.
The organization denounced that relatives of minors who died in the fire have been killed after the tragedy.
“In June 2018, Gloria Pérez y Pérez, mother of Iris Yodenis León Pérez (who died as a result of the fire) was murdered along with her husband, Nery León, and their 13-year-old daughter, Nury León Pérez -who had also been arrested in Virgin of the Assumption. The entire family was murdered in their home in Sayaxché, Petén. More recently, in February 2021, Wendy Anahí Vividor’s mother (killed in the tragedy), María Elizabeth Ramírez, was murdered. Another mother has suffered threats and physical attacks along with her children ”, says the study.
“Some of these young women were near death and experienced severe trauma when they witnessed the death of their companions. Each and every one of them should have received close accompaniment, counseling and reparations for the abuse they suffered while in the custody of the State. The negligence on the part of the State to closely monitor these young women leaves them exposed to further exploitation and abuse, ”says the study.
The organization said that four years after the tragedy that left 41 girls dead and 15 others seriously injured, they still continue to go unpunished and that the State has also not provided support to families who even face risk seeking justice.
The tragedy occurred on March 8, 2017. The day before, the minor girls and boys who were detained in the place held a protest denouncing physical and sexual abuse. Several minors left the place, but were later subdued by the police to return.
On the day of the fire, as punishment, local personnel and police locked 56 girls in a small room. The minors continued to protest the lack of food and access to bathrooms, one of the minors carried matches and as a protest measure set fire to some mats that generated a fire that burned and killed the minors.
For the fire, nine people are under trial for minor crimes such as negligence. There have been no arrests for the abuses reported by the minors.
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