The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

The double death of Tadeo: the chilling case of the body of a baby stolen and thrown in a dumpster in a prison in Mexico

2022-01-22T20:26:40.203Z


The child's family denounces that he died in the hospital at three months and was later removed from a cemetery in the capital to enter a prison in Puebla dead. The authorities have not yet explained what they wanted to do with the body.


In a place where they had seen almost everything, this was too much. The inert body of a three-month-old baby among the food waste of a state prison in Puebla, a two-hour drive from the Mexican capital. With an incision in the abdomen and a hospital bracelet that indicated that he had died only five days ago – he was found on January 10 – and his last names. An inmate digging through the garbage found it there, reported it to the prison authorities, and for almost two weeks nothing had happened. His appearance was a mystery: had he died in prison? Was he already dead when he entered? Who admitted him and how did they allow him to leave without him? The Puebla authorities never responded to these questions, and to date there have been no detainees.It was this Friday night when media pressure made a family suspect the worst: their son, who died on January 5 and underwent abdominal surgeries, was not in his tiny coffin in a cemetery in the capital. His body had been stolen and dumped in the rubble of a prison 140 kilometers from where his parents lived.

Tadeo's case has uncovered the horror with which Mexico lives in an almost natural way. The appearance of the body of a baby in a prison was not a scandal, not even a local one. The reality of prisons in the country, especially state prisons such as this one —San Miguel in Puebla—, with overcrowding of more than twice its capacity, with some of its officials —including a former director of the prison— convicted of corruption, with accusations of being the backyard of drug and human trafficking, of having a facility dedicated to the telephone extortion of dozens of prisoners from those who are outside, where prostitution networks have also been denounced that include the same prison inmates Against this background, the corpse of a baby for many was not even a surprise.

In a note dated January 11 of a local newspaper in Puebla, Econsulta, which could have gone unnoticed, the finding was reported.

The Reinserta organization confirmed what had happened and started a national media campaign to stir up public opinion about the baby's mysterious case.

State authorities did not comment until almost a week later.

There were no answers, only a warning from its governor, Miguel Barbosa: "A lot of crap is going to appear in all this and we are going to make it known once everything is accredited."

The bullshit the governor was referring to encompassed a host of speculation that began to surface since the news this week became a national media issue. And accustomed to seeing on rare occasions the terror of overcrowded prisons and self-governed by criminals, also chilling hypotheses flew over: had they used the child's body to transport drugs? Did the abdominal wound confirm that they hid it there? Had they murdered him? in prison without any authority noticing? Did the case of the baby uncover a network of child trafficking for such purposes?

This Friday night, the boy's family revealed the most tragic reality. The minor, born on October 4 at the Iztacalco pediatric hospital in the capital, suffered severe intestinal complications that forced him to endure up to six abdominal surgeries. And with only three months, he passed away on January 5. His parents buried him a day later in the Iztapalapa cemetery, south of Mexico City. And seeing on the news the terrible story of a baby with no identity, with an abdominal incision, of a similar age to their little one, they began to suspect. The child's surnames were leaked to the press and with that information, the father desperately went to the cemetery. It had been stolen.

Consulted by this newspaper, sources from the state prosecutor's office in Puebla and the capital have refused to make any kind of statement. Nor from the office of the governor, Miguel Barbosa. Through a statement on Thursday, the Mexico City Prosecutor's Office anticipated a possible shelving of the investigation by noting that they had not found any record of a child with those surnames reported missing, in any hospital, cemetery or morgue. A day later, after the family's complaint, it has become clear that the authorities only sought reports from the Public Ministry, not a general search that would find the whereabouts of a deceased baby in a hospital. This Friday his death certificate was made public, after the search for the parents.

The family is threatened and has decided not to give any more statements to the media, according to the director of Reinserta, Saskia Niño de Rivera, who is in contact with them. And although the identity of the baby has been confirmed this Saturday and also the cause of his death, the case remains a mystery. Why was a baby stolen from a cemetery in the capital and transferred dead to a prison in Puebla? What were they trying to do with his body? Who entered him? How could someone enter a prison with the corpse? of a child and how was he able to get out of prison without being claimed by any authority?

The truth behind Tadeo's tragedy will reveal in any case a terrifying reality of the consequences of corruption and impunity that devastate the country.

And the case, which was about to go unnoticed, which initially did not represent any scandal, has become a missile against the government of Miguel Barbosa, from Morena —the same party as President Andrés Manuel López Obrador—, forcing these days to unravel the black hole that the prisons of his State represent.

subscribe here

to the

newsletter

of EL PAÍS México and receive all the informative keys of the current affairs of this country

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2022-01-22

You may like

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.