Parents of the 49 deceased babies and survivors of the 2009 ABC Daycare fire reported this Sunday the alleged arrest in the United States of Sandra Téllez, a partner at the daycare center, and demanded her immediate extradition to Mexico.
In a letter addressed to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero, the Manos Unidas por Nuestros Niños group, made up of relatives of the victims of that incident, stated that it had learned “unofficially” of the arrest of Sandra Lucía Téllez Nieves in Eloy, Arizona, USA.
“We ask the Mexican State to do what is necessary to ensure that Sandra Lucía Téllez Nieves is deported and extradited to our country and placed at the disposal of the Mexican authorities,” the organization requested.
The arrest, they said, was allegedly made possible thanks to a red notice issued by Interpol; however, the relatives reported that they had not been formally notified by the Mexican authorities.
“Regardless of whether the authorities made the arrest in the State of Arizona, the Mexican authorities should have been immediately notified of this situation, and as victims and indirect victims of the tragedy, no authority has informed us of anything, and this silence is highly suspicious,” they claimed.
According to the parents, a US law firm is requesting political asylum for Téllez Nieves, claiming that the woman is a political prisoner “when in fact she is responsible for the negligent homicide of 49 children and the negligent injuries of more than 106 children,” they added.
Téllez Nieves is identified as the partner and owner of the ABC Daycare Center. In 2016, she was sentenced to 28 years, eleven months, and four days in prison, but after several appeals and injunctions, her sentence was reduced to five years and seven months in prison.
He has had an arrest warrant in effect since February 2022.
On June 5, 2009, in Hermosillo, the capital of the northern state of Sonora, a fire that started in a warehouse belonging to the state government’s Treasury Department spread to the ABC Daycare Center, operated by the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS).
The fire killed 25 girls and 24 boys under the age of five, and more than 70 survived with severe burns and more than 39 with physical injuries.
The daycare center had blocked emergency exits and failed to comply with safety measures, but no one is in prison for their involvement in the fire. Although more than 20 former public officials have been held accountable, many have died, and those still alive have not been sentenced.
Families have reported that arrest warrants exist, but authorities fail to execute them, while public officials and ABC Daycare partners remain unpunished.
