Mexico demanded U.S. prosecute sheriff, agents. Docs show role of consulate in Ramos-Compean case

World Net Daily ^ | Feb 13, 2007 | Jerome R. Corsi

[John Jorsett]

The Mexican Consulate demanded the prosecution of Texas Sheriff's Deputy Guillermo "Gilmer" Hernandez, who subsequently was brought to trial by U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, according to documents obtained by WND.

WND also has learned the Mexican Consulate played a previously undisclosed role in the events leading to Sutton's high-profile prosecution of Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who are serving 11 and 12 year sentences for their role in the shooting of a drug smuggler.

Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas – among a number of congressman who have fiercely opposed the prosecution of Ramos and Compean – told WND he has "long suspected that Mexican government officials ordered the prosecution of our law enforcement agents."

"Mexico wants to intimidate our law enforcement into leaving our border unprotected, and we now have confirmation of it in writing," Culberson said.Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, was equally outraged.

"The Mexican government should do more to keep illegals from Mexico from crossing into the United States, especially drug dealers, rather than be concerned about our border agents," he told WND. "The U.S. Justice Department should not be working for the Mexican government."

The White House and Sutton's office in El Paso, Texas, did not respond to calls from WND asking for comment.

Hernandez's attorney Jimmy Parks of San Antonio, Texas, told WND the documents "prove that it is wrong for my client to be in jail."

"The prosecution of my client sends a wrong message to criminal illegal immigrants who are being tempted to cross our borders with impunity," he said.

Mexico intervenes

WND has obtained a copy of a letter written April 18, 2005, by Mexican Consul Jorge Ernesto Espejel Montes in Eagle Pass, Texas, demanding Hernandez be prosecuted for injuring a Mexican national, Marciela Rodriguez Garcia.

The first two paragraphs of the letter set out the facts of the case as understood by the Mexican consul. The letter is reproduced here as written:

I am addressing to you, regarding the case of the Mexican national, Ms. MARICELA RODRIGUEZ GARCIA (DOB 4-11-1979), who based on the information obtained by this Consulate, received a gunshot wound by an agent of the Sheriff Department of Edward County, that caused injuries in her face.

As far aw we know, last April 15, 2005, the Mexican national was transported in first insistence to Val Verde Hospital in Del Rio, Tx, and then to San Antonio, Tx., where she was attended at the University Hospital. Today, Mr. Gabriel Salas a member of the staff of this office had the opportunity of interviewed Ms. RODRIGUEZ who confirms the facts of the incident.

The final two paragraphs contain the demands of the Mexican consul:

Based on the Consular Convention between Mexico and the United States and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the Consulate of Mexico is entitled to represent, protect and defend the rights of Mexican nationals in this country. Therefore, I would like to point out, that is the care of my Country that this kind of incidents against our nationals, do not remain unpunished.

According to the information provided above, I would appreciate your kind assistance, so this Consulate can be informed of the current investigation, and your support, so you present and file a complaint with the necessaries arraignments.

WND has learned the Mexican consul addressed separate copies of the letter to the following parties:

• Don Lettsinger, Sheriff, Edward County, Rocksprings, Texas

• Norman Townsent, Supervisor Senior Special Agent, FBI, Laredo, Texas

• Bobby Smith, Texas Rangers, Del Rio, Texas

• Fred Hernandez, District Attorney, Del Rio, Texas

• J.A. Garcia, Attorney at Law, San Antonio,Texas

• Lieutenant Gerónimo Gutiérrez Fernández, Subsecretario para América del Norte

• Minister Miguel Gutiérrez Tinoco, Director General de Protección y Asuntos Consulares

• Emb. Arturo Aquiles Dáger Gómez, Consultor Juridico

• Emb. Carlos de Leaza, Embajador de México, Washington, D.C.

• Emb. Martha I. Lara, Cónsul General de México, San Antonio, Texas

WND also has learned that on April 29, 2005, Sheriff Lettsinger in Edwards County advised that the Texas Rangers met with the district attorney in Del Rio and was told the state of Texas had been removed from the Hernandez case because the FBI and the federal government were taking over.

The Mexican national Rodriguez was in a Chevrolet Suburban van full of illegals that attempted to run over Hernandez after he had stopped the vehicle for running a stop sign April 14, 2005, in Rocksprings, Texas. Firing his weapon at the rear tires, a bullet fragment hit Rodriguez in the mouth, cutting her lip and breaking two teeth.

Hernandez, convicted of felony civil rights violations, is incarcerated in a Del Rio prison waiting sentencing.

In the case of agents Ramos and Compean, WND has obtained notes made by a congressional staff member who attended the Sept. 26, 2006, meeting with three investigators from the Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General's office.

The staff member's notes indicate the Inspector General's office briefed the congressmen that the Mexican consul had also intervened in the Ramos and Compean case.

According to the notes obtained by WND, the congressmen were told:

Several weeks later (after the February 17, 2005 event near Fabens, Texas), the Mexican Consulate contacted the U.S. Consulate in Mexico saying that they have a person who claims to have been shot by a Border Patrol agent. On March 4, 2005, the U.S. Consulate contacted the U.S. attorney.

DHS investigative reports filed by Special Agent Christopher Sanchez document that March 4, 2005, is the date on which DHS initiated the Ramos-Compean investigation.

WND can find no evidence the Border Patrol, DHS, or U.S. Attorney Sutton had started any investigation of Ramos or Compean concerning the events of Feb. 17, 2005, prior to March 4, 2005.

'Dictating' policy

"The Mexican government should not be dictating United States border policy," Poe told WND after learning of the Mexican consul's involvement in both cases.

Culberson agreed.

"We have it in writing," he told WND, "a letter from the Mexican Consulate in the case of the deputy sheriff from Edwards County and verbal confirmation of the Mexican Consulate's complaint in the case of Border Patrol agents Ramos and Compean."

Culberson told WND it is "outrageous and unacceptable that our government is prosecuting U.S. law enforcement officials at the request of the Mexican government."

The congressman said the revelations suggest national security may be at risk:

"U.S. national security interests in the war on terror must determine how we protect our border, not the opinions of the Mexican government," he said.

Culberson called for a congressional investigation, telling WND, "We've now got to find out how many other Mexican government complaints have led to the prosecutions of our law enforcement officers on the border, and this intimidation must stop."

Previous accounts in question

Sutton's claim he learned about the identity of the drug smuggler in the Ramos-Compean case, Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, through consular contacts originating in Mexico apparently contradicts his explanation in an exclusive interview with WND Jan. 19, Sutton said his office learned the identity of Aldrete-Davila from a lawyer in Mexico representing the drug smuggler.

WND: So, Aldrete-Davila ran away, and as you say, at the time you didn't have any basis to know who he was and there were no fingerprints. But yet, you found the guy. If you found the guy to give him immunity, why couldn't you have found the guy to punish him?

SUTTON: The way we found him is that he came forward and was in Mexico with a lawyer. So, the only way to get him to testify was to give him immunity from being prosecuted. He wasn't going to agree to come to the United States, he wasn't going to agree to talk, unless he had some kind of immunity from being prosecuted for that load. So, that puts the prosecutor in the terrible choice of everyone goes free, we got no case against the dope dealer, we cannot make a case against the dope dealer because there's no evidence, thanks to agents and other factors.

Sutton's account also appears to contradict the March 14, 2005, memo from Special Agent Christopher Sanchez which claimed the government learned Aldrete-Davila's identity from Border Patrol Agent Rene Sanchez in Willcox, Ariz.

As WND reported, Christopher Sanchez's memo had claimed Rene Sanchez and Aldrete-Davila grew up together in Mexico. Rene Sanchez, the memo said, learned Aldrete-Davila was the drug smuggler involved in the incident with agents Ramos and Compean after his mother-in-law had a phone call with Aldrete-Davila's mother in Mexico.

The memo also indicates the shooting was reported to the Mexican Consulate.

Rene Sanchez said that his mother-in-law Gregoria Toquinto went to Mexico to help her friend Marcadia take her son Osbaldo to the Mexican Consulate to report the shooting incident. However, Osbaldo declined to go. Marcadia advised Toquinto that Osbaldo did not want to report the incident, because he had actually been transporting a load of marijuana and was afraid the Mexican and/or U.S. authorities would put him in jail.

Staff notes WND obtained from the Sept. 26, 2006, meeting Poe, Culberson and two other Texas Republican congressmen had with three investigators in the Inspector General's office indicate the Mexican Consulate knew all about Aldrete-Davila. That conflicts with Sutton's claim the drug smuggler was so concerned about prosecution he was afraid to talk to the Mexican Consulate.

It also contradicts the DHS Report of Investigation released by Assistant Inspector General Elizabeth Redman to Congress in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by Poe. On a page numbered as "4 of 33," the DHS report appears to have a heavily redacted version of the Rene Sanchez mother-in-law story.

Redman was one of three DHS investigators who attended the Sept. 26, 2006, meeting with the four Texas Republican congressman. The other two investigators were identified to WND as Tamara Faulkner and James Taylor.

As WND reported, DHS Inspector General Richard L. Skinner admitted under oath Feb. 6 that Redman and the other investigators had misled the Texas congressmen. Skinner was responding to questioning by Culberson before the Homeland Security Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee.

Skinner admitted, contrary to previous claims, DHS did not have investigative reports that would prove Ramos and Compean were rogue Border Patrol agents who told investigators they were "out to shoot some Mexicans" the day of the incident with Aldrete-Davila.

Culberson since has called for the resignation of the investigators.

Ramos-Compean trial

The Mexican consul's role in revealing the identity of Aldrete-Davila also conflicts with prosecutor Debra Kanof's opening statement to the jury in the Ramos-Compean trial.

According to a copy of the statement obtained by WND, Kanof explained the following to the jury Feb. 21, 2006:

Rene Sanchez is stationed in Willcox, Arizona. He's actually from El Paso. And sometime in the last couple of days of February he got a phone call from his mother-in-law. And his mother-in-law lives in Mexico, in a little town on the outskirts of Juarez. And she told him that she had been talking to a friend of hers, a girlfriend of hers, and that that girlfriend had told her that her son, the girlfriend's son, had been shot in back by a Border Patrol agent outside of El Paso, Texas, somewhere near San Elizario.

From there, Kanof explained how Rene Sanchez investigated.

So Rene Sanchez investigated. He made some phone calls to people he knew in El Paso and asked if there was a shooting.

First he needed to find out, however, when that occurred and approximately where it occurred. So he immediately reported it to his supervisor in Willcox, Arizona, who told him to get more information, which he did by calling his mother-in-law. And he instructed his mother-in-law to take a cell phone – his mother-in-law actually lives in El Paso – to take a cell phone to Mexico, give that cell phone to the individual who was shot, and have them call me, so I can get some facts. And that, he did.

The individual who shot is an individual by the name of Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila. And Rene Sanchez spoke with him on the phone, and he gave him information about what occurred that day.

Kanof said nothing to the jury suggesting the information about Aldrete-Davila actually came from the Mexican consul, who contacted the American Consulate in Mexico, who in turn contacted DHS and prosecutor Sutton's office.

While Ramos and Compean are in federal prison, Aldrete-Davila has found an American lawyer and plans to sue the Border Patrol for $5 million for allegedly violating his civil rights.

[PhilDragoo]

Kerik. Not like in Prince of the City:

Dennis Miller just told Jay Leno he supports Rudy, that toughness is all they understand.

Bremer protected al Sadr. Imagine that, our government protects al Sadr, Aldrete-Davila, but chews up our Haditha Marines and our Border Patrol agents.

There's a good deal of corruption to clean out.

There was Ann Bingaman antitrust under Reno, when the Clintons put more effort into going after Bill Gates than Osama bin Laden.

It's the fight of our lives.

France and Britain may have already lost.

Oh, and more effort going after Elian Gonzales than Osama bin Laden.

[La Enchiladita]

Too numerous instances of timidity when force is needed and too numerous big deals made out of small potatoes, like this Ramos/Compean incident. It should have merited some time off, and no publicity. That's all. Now look.

Bin Laden's a Saudi, right?

[Iwo Jima]

I've found out that I hate Debra Kanof. What a b-i-itch.

[PhilDragoo]

Yes. Big family. Lots of sons. Contracting business.

Do you think bin Laden is a deniable asset of their royal family.

[La Enchiladita]

I think Saudis are untouchable.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Another case where the pro-pardons crowd focuses on the logistics that brought about the discovery and prosecution of a crime, rather than the evidence of the crime itself.

The Mexican national Rodriguez was in a Chevrolet Suburban van full of illegals that attempted to run over Hernandez after he had stopped the vehicle for running a stop sign April 14, 2005, in Rocksprings, Texas. Firing his weapon at the rear tires, a bullet fragment hit Rodriguez in the mouth, cutting her lip and breaking two teeth.

You cannot shoot a van in the rear tire if it is driving toward you to run you over. He fired his weapon at the van while it was PAST him, and therefore NOT to save himself from imminent danger.

And in doing so, he injured a person who was NOT driving the van, but was a passenger -- a person who he, at the time, suspected of NO wrongdoing.

Of course the mexican government gets involved in cases where it's citizens are victims of violence in our country. Does ANYBODY here think we wouldn't have high-level government contacts with Mexico demanding an investigation and prosecution if a citizen, even one in the country illegally, was shot by a mexican authority, especially for no reason?

It's just another case of WND trying to muddy the waters with trivial distractions, hoping nobody will notice that the facts of the crime itself remaing virtually undisputed.

The article makes a claim I find particularly confusing: Sutton's claim he learned about the identity of the drug smuggler in the Ramos-Compean case, Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, through consular contacts originating in Mexico

Nothing in the article gave a quote or a reference to a Sutton statement indicating he learned the identity through consular contacts. That is clearly the inference WND is trying to draw (and note they say there are verbal unrevealed sources for the information), but I didn't see where they tied Sutton to those claims.

Also, the fact the consulate knew about the incident does not contradict the claim that initially Davilas didn't want to go to them with his story (that in fact is what the DHS report tells us happened). The consulate could be informed without his consent, but also it is quite likely that the consulate was involved by the time immunity was granted. After all, we were sending investigators into their country, I've got to think we let them know about that (imagine the stink WND would raise if they found out Mexico sent an investigator into our country to question an american citizen -- but that's exactly what we did with the smuggler).

lAstly, the letter provided does not include a "demand" that we prosecute, it ASKED that we prosecute and that we let them know what we were going to do. No doubt that is a request for prosecution, but WND's wording is meant to imply that we were forced to do something for mexico. But in fact we just did what we should do, investigate claims of wrongdoing by our law enforcement officials against citizens of another country.

I think the rabid anti-illegals crowd forgets that there really are no "illegal humans", just humans who are illegally in a place they aren't supposed to be. We don't kill people for being in the wrong place, especially if they aren't engaging in criminal behavior while they are there. Sure, we want the illegals out of the country, but we don't have the right to shoot them for being here.

[CharlesWayneCT]

No, thanks, I guess, I just wasted another hour of my life reading the same crap and responding to it.

In another thread I got so tired of this I posted a dozen or so facts pointing to guilt for these men, with another bunch of supporting evidence showing how they had hurt their own credibility.

Nobody responded to that yet. I wish we could just post a thread where each side would list all the facts, and we could discuss them, instead of having to show up to the continual WND rehashing of their same talking points which don't deal with the reality of the situation.

[CharlesWayneCT]

OK, the secret is out, so I think I can break the code of silence.

In 2000, Clinton didn't really want Gore to be president, because Gore is, well, creepy, and not very good with women. But Bush, on the other hand, well he was a party animal, someone Clinton could really respect.

So they hatched a plot to throw the election to Bush, by getting some democrat operatives in Palm Beach to screw up the butterfly ballots, throwing Gore votes to Buchanon.

But Clinton forgot to tell his buddies in the media, so they, seeing Gore in trouble, called Florida early to stop the vote in the panhandle.

This nearly gave Gore Florida, led to the nasty recount fight, but note Clinton was pretty silent during that time.

Clinton and Bush are close buddies then and now, and they both can't wait until Mexico is the official capital of our country.

[CharlesWayneCT]

I've found out that I hate Debra Kanof. What a b-i-itch.

You should send that to the defense, they might want to include it in their 5th circuit appeal -- it's such a great statement of the facts on the side of the BP agents.

[NormsRevenge]

LOL.. I hear ya,, A word of advice, take some time off from this one and let it simmer for a bit, it will take a few days to digest the transcripts anyway.

[Dat Mon]

I think you should write a screenplay.

Start thinking who can play ALGORE in the movie.

You get bonus points if you can write Matt Damon and Jennifer Lopez'z ass into the script as well.

[investigateworld]

You forgot where Republican operatives stole that little boy out of Cuba to force Slickmiester to send in machine gun toting federal agents to force him back. (Which the US Gov't allowed the photograph to be published).

I think Rove did that little stunt.

[wolfcreek]

"Mexico wants to intimidate our law enforcement into leaving our border unprotected, and we now have confirmation of it in writing," Culberson said.Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, was equally outraged"


Nuff Said! This should remove all doubt about who our Pres. answers to and where this is leading.

[ovrtaxt]

Bremer protected Sadr? So that's how it went down.

Thanks for the info, I hadn't heard that.

[Iscool]

If George can not or will NOT defend this nation from invasion from Mexico during this war on terror, then he needs to stand down.

And more than that, how can we trust him with Iraq???

Quite clearly, there is no WOT...

[Issaquahking]

Thanks B4Ranch in helping to keep the truth moving forward! I try to link to critical information where neccesary. Too many think that the administration "are just doing their job" and jump up to defend the wrong people.

[Dante3]

Some odd things in Debra Kanof's life. I hope a clever investigative reporter will look into her background as well as her brother.

[radar101]

SO-who is running the US?
Not the voters
Not Bush

[Landru]

"You should direct that comment at someone else. Tony Snow is just the Press Secretary, he's not the President, and he doesn't make policy."

How about Hillary?
Would that work (for you)?

Snow is the voice of our president, is he not?
Can't & won't say anything without it first being approved first, one would hope?

See.
Here's what has me so concerned, MizSterious.
Someone will answer all my questions concerning the travesty of justice that took place down in Texas.
I'd like the answers to be from the right people, 'k.
My president doesn't speak directly with/to me, he uses a "Press Secretary".

My question(s) are directed to the correct person, alright.

...capiche?

[Landru]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1784256/posts

...'nuff said? ;^)