# Guatemala girls home fire kills 34



## waltky (Mar 10, 2017)

34 Girls Burned to Death in Fire at Guatemala girls shelter...





*Guatemala Mourns for 34 Girls Burned to Death in Fire at State-Run Shelter*
_March 09, 2017 - Guatemala is in mourning after the horrific fire Wednesday that killed 34 teenage girls at a shelter for troubled young people near Guatemala City._


> Nineteen of the girls died at the scene — their charred bodies covered with blankets outside the building. Fifteen victims later died from their burns at the hospital. Others are fighting for their lives.  Police and witnesses say mattresses were deliberately set on fire in a part of the shelter where the girls were locked down after trying to escape.
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> The state-run Virgin of the Assumption Safe Home was built to hold 500, but as many as 800 boys and girls were being housed there — frequently complaining of bad food, shabby facilities, fights and sex abuse.
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See also:

*'Nightmare' Scenes After Guatemala Shelter Fire Kills 30, More at Risk*
_March 09, 2017  — A fire that ripped through an overcrowded home for abused children in Guatemala killed at least 30 people, mostly girls, and doctors on Thursday described their shock at the severity of the burns suffered by two dozen more hospitalized victims._


> “I’ve been doing this for 29 years. What I saw yesterday was a scene from Dante," said Juan Antonio Villeda, director of the San Juan de Dios hospital, where 17 patients with extremely serious first- and second-degree burns were being treated.  The fire broke out on Wednesday as some residents allegedly set mattresses ablaze following an escape attempt from the government-run Virgen de Asuncion home for youths aged up to 18, in San Jose Pinula, 25 km (15 miles) southwest of the capital, Guatemala City.
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> Overcrowding a major problem
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## yiostheoy (Mar 10, 2017)

I did not follow why these little b!tches were protesting and set the fire.

If it was some kind of self emolument type of self destruction well then I guess they got what they wanted.

I hope it did not sting too much.


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## Book of Jeremiah (Mar 10, 2017)

waltky said:


> 34 Girls Burned to Death in Fire at Guatemala girls shelter...
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Horrific. They went from a bad situation to an even worse one.  How tragic!


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## Book of Jeremiah (Mar 10, 2017)

yiostheoy said:


> I did not follow why these little b!tches were protesting and set the fire.
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> If it was some kind of self emolument type of self destruction well then I guess they got what they wanted.
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> I hope it did not sting too much.


It was overcrowded and the conditions were probably deplorable.  This isn't a protest along the lines of what we see passing for protests here in America (paid protesters.)  Obviously they had valid reasons to protest but didn't realize what it would lead to.  Very sad story.


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## Book of Jeremiah (Mar 10, 2017)

waltky said:


> 34 Girls Burned to Death in Fire at Guatemala girls shelter...
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waltky why does that facility look like a prison?  Look at the fences how tall are those walls?  15 ft with razor wire at the top of the walls?  What is up with that?  This is not a prison facility.  It said it was a home for abused girls.  Why would they have razor wire and walls to keep them in?  That should be investigated.


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## waltky (Mar 10, 2017)

_Why would they have razor wire and walls to keep them in?[/b]

Could be to keep the baddies out...  

... Many Guatelmalans are coming to America...

... to escape the high drug trade violence._


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## Book of Jeremiah (Mar 10, 2017)

waltky said:


> _Why would they have razor wire and walls to keep them in?[/b]
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> Could be to keep the baddies out...
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I was wondering if that was part of the immigration we saw atop trains coming through Mexico about a year ago or more.....


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## waltky (Mar 11, 2017)

Morales calls for a restructuring of his country’s youth shelter system...




*Guatemalan leader vows change after deadly fire*
_Sat, Mar 11, 2017 - Guatemala’s president called for a restructuring of his country’s youth shelter system following a fire that killed at least 35 girls at an overcrowded government facility for children, while grieving families began receiving the bodies of their loved ones._


> The shelter outside Guatemala City held about 800 children and mixed victims of abuse with youthful offenders.  Relatives and officials said Wednesday’s blaze began when youths set fire to mattresses to protest abuses at the Virgin of the Assumption Safe House.  The flames swept through the female section of the facility where some of the girls had been locked inside a dormitory after an escape attempt.  “This is a rigid system that has become insensitive,” Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said, adding that there are 1,500 children in government facilities across Guatemala, the vast majority of whom have families.  Morales called for the system to be decentralized.
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> Despite his promises of change, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the seat of government calling for the president’s resignation.  Late on Thursday night, in a low-income neighborhood on the outskirts of Guatemala’s capital, relatives and friends gathered for the wake of 14-year-old Madelyn Patricia Hernandez Hernandez.  A wooden casket swathed in white silk and flanked by tall candles sat inside the family’s humble home. A picture of Madelyn stood between purple flowers.  Madelyn had been orphaned since the age of three when gang members killed her mother for not paying extortion, said her grandmother, Maria Antonia Garcia.  Her father had not been involved in her life.
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## waltky (Mar 11, 2017)

Death toll in Guatemala girls shelter fire rises to 38...




*Death toll in Guatemala fire rises to 38 girls*
_Mar 11,`17) -- A key Guatemalan official was ordered not to leave the country Saturday as the death toll rose to 38 girls in fire that began when mattresses were set ablaze during a protest by residents at a youth shelter._


> Authorities continued searching over the weekend for answers in the disaster that has put a spotlight on alleged failings in Guatemala's child protective services.  The head of the protective services agency, Carlos Rodas, was ordered not to leave Guatemala by a judge on Saturday while investigations into the blaze continue, according to prosecutors' spokeswoman Julia Barrera.  Authorities at the Roosevelt Hospital where many of the girls were taken for treatment of their burns said Saturday that another girl had died. Nineteen of the adolescents perished at the scene of the Wednesday inferno and another 19 died later in local hospitals.
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> Various groups have said they plan to gather Saturday to protest the deaths and demand the resignation of Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales.  The president has blamed the government's "rigid" and "insensitive" system for dealing with troubled youths and has promised to reform protective services for some 1,500 minors currently living in youth shelters around the country.  Morales blamed the Guatemalan state during a Friday news conference for the tragedy and said that all of the government institutions in charge of minors played a role.
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## waltky (Apr 6, 2017)

Officials from Social Welfare agency charged over girl's shelter fire...




*Guatemala charges officials over shelter fire that killed 41 girls*
_April 5, 2017  -- Guatemala's Public Ministry said prosecutors charged three former officials from the Secretariat of Social Welfare agency over the deaths of 41 girls in the fire at the government-run Virgen de la Asunción shelter._


> In a statement Tuesday, the Public Ministry said the Public Prosecutor's Office charged Guatemala's former Secretary of Social Welfare Carlos Antonio Rodas Mejía, former Under Secretary of Social Welfare Anahí Keller Zavala and former director of the Virgen de la Asunción shelter Hogar Torres Torres Ramírez with culpable homicide, abuse of authority, breach of duties and abuse against minors. Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales fired the three officials after the March 8 fire.
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> Guatemalan prosecutors described the conditions in which the girls lived in the shelter as "terrible." The girls were locked in rooms and were not allowed to leave or go to the bathroom. Authorities said the worst act by the Social Welfare officials, though, was delegating the responsibility of the teens to the National Civil Police after one girl attempted to escape. The police locked the girls in the classroom where the fire occurred and did not render aid when they cried for help.
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## waltky (Jun 26, 2017)

5 more Guatemalan officials charged over girls' shelter fire...




*Guatemala charges five more officials over fire that killed 41 girls*
_June 26, 2017  -- Guatemala's Public Ministry said two police and three social welfare officials were charged with crimes after an investigation into the deaths of 41 girls in the fire at the government-run Virgen de la Asunción shelter._


> In a statement on Saturday, the Public Ministry said the charges were brought after an investigation showed more people were involved in the tragedy and in other criminal activity not directly related to the fire.  Three of the officials, who are remanded while awaiting trial, are identified as Lucinda Eva Marina Marroquín Carrillo, deputy inspector of the National Civil Police, who is charged with manslaughter and mistreatment of minors; Brenda Jullisa Chamam Pacay, department supervisor against abuse for the shelter, who is charged with abuse against minors, breach of duties and manslaughter; and Luis Armando Pérez Borja, a National Civil Police commissary who is charged with abuse of authority and abuse against the elderly.
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