A few facts are clear. The young male victim was unarmed. He was struck and killed by the agent's bullet within Mexican territory. The officer himself was on the American side. Under prevailing international law, Mexico has as much right to demand a judicial investigation of the case as do U.S. authorities. But today the Justice Dept. announced that the case was closed and that there would be no prosecution of the agent, who will remain unidentified. The official U.S. explanation is that the young man was throwing rocks at the agent, and that he fired in self-defense. The Mexican government says it was clearly excessive force.
The video I have pasted below describing the events is just one of many available on YouTube, in both English and Spanish. It's amazing how radically different the reports are -- including those prepared by the U.S. media. I selected this one only because it seemed somewhat more objective than others which I watched. But for those interested in pursuing the subject, there are many other "spins" on this tragic case available all over the internet.
Mexico filed a note of diplomatic protest with the U.S. State Department today, which will accomplish nothing. Officials here revealed that in January 2011 they asked for the agent to be extradited to face criminal prosecution in a Mexican court. But today's decision by American prosecutors brings that effort to a swift conclusion.
A statement by Mexico's Secretary of Foreign Relations claimed that "this does not mean the case is over with; efforts by the family of the victim to obtain justice in U.S. courts will continue." Such civil litigation will go nowhere. The individual officer and the federal law enforcement agency for which he works are, for practical purposes, all but immune from liability for acts committed in the course of his duty, absent evidence of gross negligence or criminal misconduct. Given today's determination by U.S. prosecutors, the latter would be almost impossible to prove in a court of law, even though the evidence required in a civil case is far less than in a criminal one. Short of voluntary compensation to the victim's family by Washington -- possible, in my view -- it may be the end of the legal road for all.
Audio resumen en español
Unbelievable. How can the US expect any international cooperation whatsoever when this is how we treat our neighbors? There is no possible way that an unarmed teenager, across a river, posed any threat at all to this agent. I am really disappointed in this decision by the "Justice" Department.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, thanks for your reporting. I would never have read about this otherwise.