Merger with Mexico: the worst of both worlds.In May 2005, Mexican federales gunned down three innocent university students in the border town of Reynosa. Immediately after the shooting, Mexican federal authorities painted the victims as drug-runners, a transparent ruse Ruse (r  `sĕ), city (1993 pop. 170,209), NE Bulgaria, on the Danube River bordering Romania. The chief river port of Bulgaria, it is also an industrial and communications center. immediately discredited dis·cred·it tr.v. dis·cred·it·ed, dis·cred·it·ing, dis·cred·its 1. To damage in reputation; disgrace. 2. To cause to be doubted or distrusted. 3. To refuse to believe. n. through the efforts of local journalists. "Nearly a year later," reports the April 24 Houston Chronicle, "the case remains unresolved. None of the federal officers, nearly 1,000 of whom were assigned to the city in January 2005 to combat rising drug violence, has been arrested. And the students have not been exonerated." Mexican federal authorities claimed that the victims were armed drug traffickers Noun 1. drug trafficker - an unlicensed dealer in illegal drugs drug dealer, drug peddler, peddler, pusher criminal, crook, felon, malefactor, outlaw - someone who has committed a crime or has been legally convicted of a crime like those who had killed federal agents in earlier skirmishes. Hernan Aleman Serrato, an eyewitness An individual who was present during an event and is called by a party in a lawsuit to testify as to what he or she observed. The state and Federal Rules of Evidence, which govern the admissibility of evidence in civil actions and criminal proceedings, impose requirements who was a friend of one of the slain students, testifies that "several trucks of federal agents surrounded their pickup and unleashed a hail of gunfire, continuing even after the students identified themselves--an account backed up by other witnesses," continues the Chronicle. "A forensic team later leaked evidence to the media, showing no traces of gunpowder gunpowder, explosive mixture; its most common formula, called "black powder," is a combination of saltpeter, sulfur, and carbon in the form of charcoal. Historically, the relative amounts of the components have varied. on the students' hands. The finding contradicted police reports that the students had fired first." The official version of the killing was further discredited in December when the National Human Rights Commission "released a 29-page recommendation in the case that blamed federal police and described an elaborate cover-up." The commission urged the government to pay compensation to the families of the victims. "We don't want the money," protests Rose Elba Avendano, whose brother Jose was among those killed. "We want [the government] to clear their names. And we want justice." Infuriating as this specimen of typical Mexican government corruption may be, we should ask ourselves: "How big a difference is there between Mexico's extravagantly corrupt federal government and our own? Is there any real accountability for lethal abuses of federal power, such as the needless killing of U.S. citizen Rigoberto Alpizar Rigoberto Alpizar (April 17, 1961–December 7, 2005) was a Costa Rican-born United States citizen who was fatally shot at Miami International Airport by two United States federal air marshals. by federal air marshals last December?" There is still a difference, of course. But that difference will further narrow if U.S. and Mexican law enforcement are integrated through the so-called Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America is a continent-level dialogue, founded on March 23 2005 by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The reason given for this agreement is to enhance security and economic cooperation in North America. . |
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