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From the Ciudad Juarez tragedy to renewed success
DAVID RABY reports on the latest moves to navigate major crises such as immigration, drug cartel violence and energy sovereignty by Mexico’s progressive government
INTERNATIONAL TRAGEDY: Mourners in Guatemala carry Miguel Rojche, who died in a fire at a Mexican immigration detention centre in Ciudad Juarez

THE appalling fire which killed 40 migrants in a holding centre in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico — on the border with Texas — on March 27 looked at first like a body blow to President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and his progressive policies.

Amlo has indeed indicated that it was for him one of the two most demoralising incidents in his term so far. But his reaction, followed by a remarkable series of successes, has swiftly restored his prestige.

He immediately took action to provide care to the survivors and to promote impartial investigation; a total of eight individuals have so far been arrested and charged, both local guards and regional officers of the notoriously corrupt National Migration Institute (INM) and one migrant who allegedly started the fire (reports indicate that the migrant was given a lighter by one of the guards, which if true strongly suggests an inside plot).

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