Posted on 01/15/2007 9:09:08 AM PST by SandRat
BISBEE — Mexican President Felipe Calderon yesterday voiced his “most energetic protest” against the shooting death of a young illegal Mexican immigrant by a Naco-based Border Patrol agent on Friday and expressed frustration with a lack of information in the case.
Speaking at a press conference at the Los Pinos presidential residence in Mexico City, Calderon opened his remarks by expressing condolences over the death of 22-year-old Francisco Javier Dominguez-Rivera, a native of the south-central state of Puebla. Dominguez-Rivera was shot and killed as he and six others were being detained after an illegal border crossing between Naco and Douglas on Friday afternoon.
Calderon said he had ordered his government to conduct a full investigation into the incident.
Asked by a reporter if he had any new details on the shooting, Calderon said: “Unfortunately, we have no further information ... other than the fact that he had been detained by the Border Patrol.”
“The information is still very unclear to us,” the president added, “and for that reason, we are putting forth an energetic protest in the name of the government of Mexico.”
U.S. officials have released few details of the shooting, which is under investigation by the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI.
Sheriff’s Spokeswoman Carol Capas said her office would conduct further interviews on Tuesday and an autopsy would be performed on Dominguez-Rivera on Wednesday. Details will be available to the public shortly thereafter, she said.
“It would be irresponsible of us to release information without having all the interviews completed,” Capas said, adding that her office had been working closely with the Mexican Consulate in Douglas throughout the investigation.
Consul Oscar De la Torre said the Douglas consulate and the state government of Puebla would repatriate Dominguez-Rivera’s body later this week. He said the body would be sent to the city Cuautla, state of Morelos, where Dominguez-Rivera’s family currently resides.
According to information from the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector headquarters, an agent from the Naco Border Patrol station encountered a group of six men and one woman crossing the desert near the Paul Spur limestone plant at approximately 3 p.m. Friday.
As the agent attempted to detain the group, he was reportedly hit or pushed by Dominguez-Rivera before taking out his gun and shooting.
Lt. Commander Mark Dannels of the Cochise County Sheriff’s Department told the Herald/Review on Friday that the confrontation began as a rock-throwing incident.
“The officer was in fear of his life and took the actions he deemed appropriate,” Dannels said.
Initial reports suggest that Dominguez-Rivera and the other members of his group were unarmed.
On Saturday, the Mexican Foreign Relations Secretariat condemned the shooting as an act of “disproportionate violence.”
The agent has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
This is the first Border Patrol agent-related shooting in fiscal year 2007, a Tucson Sector spokesman said. The year started Oct. 1. It is also the first such incident since Calderon took office Dec. 1.
The last fatal Border Patrol shooting in Cochise County was on Aug. 10, 2005, when agents shot 32-year-old Hector Alonso Romero-Carrillo six times as the Naco, Sonora, resident fled during a drug arrest in Palominas.
Herald/Review reporter Jonathan Clark can be reached at 515-4693 or by e-mail at jonathan.clark@bisbeereview.net.
Mexican government condemns fatal shooting
Sierra Vista Herald, Sierra Vista Arizona ^ | Jonathan Clark
Posted on 01/14/2007 8:32:33 AM MST by SandRat
Awwwwwwww GEEEEZE won't they just SHUT-UP already?!!!!
Uhhm...maybe you should wait for the facts BEFORE lodging a protest, el Presidente, but of course that's not the point is it?
ping
Hey Calderon, WE AMERICANS protest the hundreds of deaths and rapes, the thousands of injuries and crimes being perpetrated on US citizens by YOUR citizens being here illegally.
You gonna protest when I defend my family and knock off a couple of illegal perps?
Bullseye.
When it comes to arrogance, the Mexican government is right up there with France.
I missed the part where he was going to take action against corrupt cops in southern Mexico who rob, rape and shoot Guatemalans trying to sneak into Chiapas.
BTTT!
If this border patrol agent is prosecuted for defending himself, like the other two agents convicted earlier, people are going to get very, very angry.
These armed (rocks, whatever) incursions will become more and more commonplace. The elected politicians in almost every state. Congress, and the President have okayed them by giving illegal aliens rights, benefits, etc.
The illegals now know that it is okay to come here by whatever means possible.
And they are about as relevant and necessary to the function of the world, too. I guess the arrogance goes with the irrelevance. Thanks for the tacos, Mexico - now bugger off.
I'm just sitting here wondering when Calderon is going to stand up and apologize for all the shootings his countrymen have been responsible for here in the US.
Mexico isn't a country, it's an amorphous blob like pestilence
We tell El Presidenta' that our situation has risen to an emergency level at our borders and we as a sovereign nation retain the right to use deadly force to repel invaders ,so could you please put el gringo with an m-16 in your comic books showing your citizens how to break our laws.George why should we be Mexico's welfare system,I don't recall ever being asked to vote on that program!
Just accuse the United States -It's the best way to stir up the ignorant Mexican masses, to stay in power in that corrupt nation
BOOO WHO!!! Who Cares, he was either a drug dealer or illegal and had no business bing there in the first place.
The illegal immigrant rock-throwers should consider themselves lucky that everybody in their group didn't end up getting shot by the Border Patrol.
Assaulting a law enforcement officer is a good way to end up dead. These illegals don't sound too smart.
Oh the poor lil' president. Corruption is lawfully challenged, and he doesn't know how to deal with it. Perhaps felipe, you could begin to obey US law and demand your citizens obey US law? Well, I guess not, because your corrupt country and your country's corrupt leaders (of which you are one) doesn't have a clue about obeying the law. Rot calderon and may your citizen overthrow you!
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