A 2-year-old boy, identified only as Alexander, died Monday at a hospital in Los Mochis, in the Mexican state of Sinaloa.
Local authorities suspect that the minor was the victim of a brutal beating, because he had marks of blows all over his body.
The man who was in charge of his care and who was also the minor's mother's partner, identified as Juan Carlos, 27, was arrested that same day at clinic 49 of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) after participating in a fight.
Juan Carlos took the baby to the clinic that afternoon, still alive, but he died despite medical care, according to the newspaper Debate.
The man told the police that the child had suffered injuries from an alleged fall in a house in the La Memoria subdivision.
Clinic 49 of the IMSS in Los Mochis, Sinaloa.Google Maps
[Arrested for beheading his ex-partner with a saber in California]
The minor's family, including his mother, who was not identified, arrived at the clinic at 4 in the afternoon, but while they were waiting outside on the emergency ramp they learned that the child had died after being admitted due to blows in the Body.
That caused a fight that ended in blows, according to local media reports.
In addition to Juan Carlos, two other people were arrested.
The man had been accused by the child's mother before the Prosecutor's Office of kidnapping her son, according to the newspaper Río Doce.
The Sinaloa Prosecutor's Office announced the opening of an investigation and ordered that an autopsy be performed on the child to determine the cause of his death.
According to the 2021 National Health and Nutrition Survey, one of the few instruments in Mexico that collects data at the national level on violence during childhood, 2.3% of children between the ages of 10 and 19 interviewed said they had suffered an attack or physical aggression in the last 12 months.
Almost 20% of them stated that they were victimized in their own home.
The National Survey of Boys, Girls and Women in Mexico indicates in its latest edition (2015) that more than 60% of minors suffered some type of disciplinary violence at home or at school.
[Red code in Veracruz for an intense shooting in Orizaba]
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) points out that violence is a phenomenon that affects girls and boys of all social conditions in Mexico.
However, he warns that there is little data on this.
"The lack of data or a statistical record on this phenomenon increases the chances that children and adolescents suffer violent acts on a recurring basis, and reduces the chances that their rights will be guaranteed, protected or restored," said Christian Skoog, UNICEF representative in Mexico, during the presentation of a report in 2019.
