The discovery of a 3-month-old baby in a trash bin at a Mexico prison sparked a demand for answers, and Miguel Barbosa, governor of Puebla, promised a thorough investigation that left no one immune from being prosecuted.
The baby was discovered at the State Center for Social Reintegration in San Miguel, Puebla, a prison that has been investigated by national human rights commissions. It's unclear how the baby came to be inside the prison, as Barbosa said in a video message on Monday that it wasn't born in the jail.
The 3-month-old was found on Wednesday, according to Reinserta, a non-governmental organization, and had an incision on its abdomen. The discovery prompted civil rights organizations to condemn the leaders of the prison, including Jorge Gómez Torres, the prison director, for their inability to maintain control of the jail. Reinserta also criticized Torres' leadership for failing to detect the baby being brought into the prison.
After the body was discovered, the National Commission for Human Rights (CNDH), a federal institution monitor the human rights practices of Mexico's government, decided to exercise its power to initiate an investigation into the child's death. Along with compliance from the necessary parties, the organization called for Puebla's attorney general to carry out a "diligent and "effective" Investigation that brings the facts to light and identifies the responsible parties.
Barbosa wrote on Facebook that his office will work with the CNDH and no one who is found responsible will have immunity. He said during a town hall that the investigation will be handed with the "necessary" secrecy to uncover the truth. One question that needs to be answered is where the child was born.
Newsweek reached out to Barbosa for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.
Reinserta is also asking authorities to answer a series of questions. They want to know what records the prison has about the baby entering the prison and if the baby came in during a visit, why no one questioned why the baby never left. Since children are prohibited from entering the prison because of COVID-19, Reinserta questioned why the baby was allowed to enter and why it had an incision on its abdomen.
The baby was discovered by a prison inmate, according to a petition Reinserta started on Change.org. If it was admitted to the prison when it was lifeless, the group wondered what the body was used for.
"In what Mexico do we live for this to happen and it is the civil society organizations who find out three days later so that the case is made visible?" the petition said. "What dimension of corruption have we reached so that the authority prefers not to talk about these facts?"
The petition has amassed 18,000 signatures in four days and has a goal of 25,000 signatures.
