A Mexican Perspective Of Deaths At San Ysidro And El Paso
El Diario de Juarez (Cd. Juarez, Chihuahua) 6-9-10
Images show death of migrant
Tijuana - Anastasio Hernandez Rojas cried for mercy and help as his life was extinguished by more than 20 United States Border Guards as they beat him and discharged electrical TASER charges into him.
The vivid images that can be seen on 5 video recordings last an agonizing two and a half minutes was recorded by Humberto Navarrete Mendoza who agreed to give his eyewitness testimony and recordings taken with his cell phone. Navarrete became acquainted with the dead man about a week before he was killed.
Dozens of people crossing through the Port of San Ysidro, California, saw the torture and cried to stop the beating. A Mexican Immigration officer ordered the people to disperse from the Mexican side of the port without expressing a desire to interview witnesses.
With desperation and visible fear, many people remained muted at the scene on the U.S. side but demanded justice on the Mexican side as recorded by Navarrete, a resident of San Diego.
"Help me! Help me! Please help me," cried Anastasio moments before he died. This can be seen on the video that lasted 1:24 minutes.
The voice of a woman that screamed "Let him go now!" can be heard on the recording taken by Humberto, but the plea remained unanswered as Anastasio suffered more blows and at least 5 more electrical discharges before he fell punished into immobility.
Navarrete questioned the excessive use of force and assured that Anastasio did not resist.
In that same video an agent can be seen saying he didn't know what was happening but at the same moment said "Obviously, he is not cooperating."
Anastasio's cries of pain brought confusion and desperation onto the faces of witnesses and drowned out the noise of grinding metal that surrounds the port between the Port of San Ysidro and the Mexican Port of Entry.
Although it was in the dark of night, the scene was clearly recorded by Humberto and he is sure that more than 20 U.S. Agents participated in the beating.
It was at 8:00 PM on Wednesday the 28th of May as Humberto and a friend were headed into Tijuana when they heard the painful screams. Although they were more than 50 meters away, they were alerted that something was happening.
"Anastasio was defenseless," said Humberto so they yelled for the beating to stop. "It was at that moment that they hit him with the TASER,' said Humberto.
Although Humberto witnessed a brutal beating, nobody imagined that it would result in the death of the victim.
Hernandez Rojas got his wings on the night of Wednesday past at a funeral in San Diego. He will be buried in that same county according to his family.
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It was shot at close range
Cd. Juarez, Chihuahua - The autopsy, performed on the young 15 year old-Sergio Adrian Hernandez, showed that the cause of death was a head wound caused by a firearm at a relatively short distance.
The crime occurred Monday on the Mexican side under the international railroad bridge between El Paso and Cd. Juarez.
Yesterday the Ministerio Publico determined that the painful death was caused by an Agent of the U.S. Border Patrol in an act of aggression.
Legally the crime occurred in a federal zone between the United States and Mexico and it was determined to be caused by a foreign Agent.
The body was found on the bank of the Rio Bravo (Rio Grande) on the Mexican side in a belly-up position and had signs of violent injury by projectiles from a firearm.
At the crime scene was found a case from a .40 caliber firearm which has been sent to a criminal laboratory for analysis.
In this case the scientific and technical evidence is consistent that the painful death was caused by an Agent of the U.S. Border Patrol.
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El Debate (Sinaloa State) 6-9-10
Six presumed henchmen found beheaded in Mexican prison
Culiacan - Six men who had been arrested by the military in the town of Guasave were found beheaded in prison (Cecjude).
The six were arrested about three months ago for homicide; association with a criminal enterprise and illegal transportation of firearms. They ranged in ages from 18 to 39 years old.
The crime was reported at about 2:27 yesterday morning. Security cameras revealed that the men had been attacked by 15 other men armed with pointed objects and knives.
The Governor of Sinaloa has admitted that there are faults in the prison security system.
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El Financiero (Mexico City) 6-8-10
Border Patrol Agent shoots a youngster in El Paso
El Paso - An Agent of the Border Patrol shot a youngster after an alleged confrontation on the South side of the City of El Paso, Texas, although the boy was hit while on Mexican soil, according to authorities.
Doug Mosier, spokesman for the Border Patrol in El Paso, did not confirm the death but said that one of his agents was involved in a shooting incident against a person during Monday night on the United States side of the International Bridge.
None-the-less, Chihuahua authorities called for an investigation into the death of 14 year old Sergio Adrian Hernandez Huereca.
Mosier said that multiple Federal Agencies are investigating and asked that questions be referred to the office of the FBI which is leading the investigation.
Andrea Simmons, spokeswoman for the FBI in El Paso, said that around 18:45 on Monday an Agent of the Border Patrol was attacked and he discharged his firearm but gave no further details of the alleged confrontation. The name of the Agent firing the weapon has not been released.
Simmons said that although the number of the agents involved has not been determined, neither has the number of aggressors nor whether they were armed.
Several witnesses told Channel 9 in El Paso that a group of people crossed onto the United States side of the border at El Paso but were returning to Mexico when an Agent on a bicycle fired at them.
This incident occurred after another Mexican migrant, Anastasio Hernandez, 32 years old, died after being beaten by several agents of the Border Patrol at the border in San Ysidro, California. The Coroner later classified the death of this Mexican as a homicide.
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Cambio de Michoacán (Morelia) 6-8-10
Mexican armed forces destroy marijuana
From the 22nd of May to June 4 this year, Mexican Armed Forces located and eradicated 145 fields of marijuana and poppy plants growing on more than 96,000,202 square meters in the states of Sinaloa and Michoacán.
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Three henchmen from 'La Familia' detained in Lazaro Cardenas
Elements of the Federal Police detained 3 suspected henchmen from La Familia after a confrontation in the State of Michoacán. The men were confronted in Colonia Compamento Minero in Lazaro Cardenas, after agents observed two vehicles travelling at high speed, one with no license plates.
One driver, a man identified only as "El Payo," died at the scene. Three more men were arrested.
Agents seized the vehicles, a .380 semi-automatic pistol, a .38 Super pistol, a .38 caliber revolver, a fragmentation grenade and military uniforms. The investigation is continuing.
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El Debate (Culiacan, Sinaloa) 6-8-10
Murders in Sinaloa remain unsolved
Culiacan, Sinaloa - Of the 1003 murders in Sinaloa this year, only 28 suspected perpetrators have been found guilty. This is only 2.7 percent of murders solved by police.
The Director of Investigations, Luis Alberto Jauss Lopez, who revealed the number of arrests, specified that 81 murder suspects were arrested pursuant to warrants. The government official announced that the number of arrests this year corresponds to the number arrested in previous years at this time.
The Governor (of Sinaloa), Jesus Aguilar Padilla, says that violence has stabilized and that the number of murders is declining.
The President of Colegio de Abogados Mariano Otero, Ruben Beltran, says that the public is fed up with having a violent society and the police are exhausted working on more than 1000 murders and cannot guarantee public security. The President of Colegio Alberto Sanchez, Gerardo Zamora, says that the violence is due to the struggle against the cartels and that the police are put at great risk. Eighty one suspects have been detained compared to more than 1000 murders so far this year.
End of Report
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Foreign News Report
The National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO) extracts and condenses the material that follows from Mexican and Central and South American on-line media sources on a daily basis. You are free to disseminate this information, but we request that you credit NAFBPO as being the provider.
