At least seven children have died in private daycare centers in Mexico each year since 2009: M5J

HERMOSILLO, Sonora (apro).- At least seven children in early childhood have died, on average, each year in a surrogate daycare center throughout Mexico since June 5, 2009, the date the ABC Daycare Center in Hermosillo, Sonora, was consumed by fire, said Patricia Duarte, mother of one of the deceased children and member of the June 5th Movement (M5J).

“After the tragedy, to date, around 113 infants have died in daycare centers across the country. The main reason is that the staff is unprofessional and untrained in caring for children of early childhood,” she said, adding that this figure was verified through the media, so “there must surely be more cases we don't know about.”

The declaration is part of the "Manifesto to the Nation," a document read after a two-and-a-half-hour march that, as every year after Friday, June 5, 2009, begins at the ruins of the ABC Daycare Center, located at the intersection of Ferrocarrileros and Mecánicos streets in the Y Griega neighborhood, and ends, 7 kilometers later, at the steps of the University of Sonora museum-library.

The document read by Patricia Duarte places the number of deaths in surrogate childcare centers in the context of the "non-repetition" of the tragedy, one of the points the victims' families have made as part of their demand for justice.

It explains that the main cause of death in these facilities is a widespread lack of professionalism among those who provide the service with the approval of the Mexican Social Security Institute. This condition, which translates specifically into a lack of training for early childhood care staff, is present throughout Mexico.

“We must remember that this tragedy could have happened anywhere in the country. This was revealed by the investigation commission ordered by the Supreme Court of Justice: of the nearly 1,300 IMSS subcontracted daycare centers, only 2% complied with all civil protection regulations and administrative procedures,” said the mother of Andrés Alonso, the deceased child.

The origin of the tragedy, according to the M5J's Manifesto to the Nation, is understood by considering how the ABC Daycare Center began its operations.

“The ABC daycare center began operations with 50,000 pesos, and the owners earned nearly a million pesos a month. The person who decided under what conditions it would begin operating was the relative of Margarita Zavala Gómez del Campo, who has now been exonerated; that is, without any responsibility before the Mexican justice system. Her name is Marcia Matilde Altagracia Gómez del Campo Tonella.”

The extent of this situation across the country, according to parents of the fire victims, is related to a series of corrupt practices that turned the IMSS's subcontracted childcare centers into a "perfect and voracious business."

"Sonora and Mexico have been shamefully exposed to the world for their serious violations of the human rights of young children. Sixteen years ago, corruption, criminal negligence, and cronyism between private individuals and high-ranking public officials were exposed," states the statement read on June 5, 2025.

Over the years, the M5J acknowledges, there has been substantial progress regarding "non-repetition," which primarily refers to the publication of the so-called "June 5 Law," which regulates, among other things, civil protection in childcare centers.

However, this law has met with resistance from owners of surrogate daycare centers, who argue that it is stifling due to overregulation, which is pushing them to close permanently. This, they claim, would violate the rights of early childhood.

The M5J's position on the latter, according to Patricia Duarte, is related to the construction of an alternative because the IMSS itself does not have the necessary infrastructure.

In this sense, the movement welcomed Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo's announcement in mid-January: the creation of Child Education and Care Centers. These, the president stated at the time, seek to "recover the essence of what the IMSS daycare centers were."