Thread: 12 Mexican police detained for shooting up U.S. Embassy SUV

Aug 27, 2012

12 Mexican police detained for shooting up U.S. Embassy SUV

By Michael Winter, USA TODAY
Updated 33m ago
parently first by gunmen and then by Mexican federal po
A judge has ordered 12 Mexican federal police officers detained for 40 days while prosecutors decide whether to charge them for firing on a U.S. Embassy vehicle Friday and wounding two American officials, according to news reports.

Attorney General Marisela Morales said prosecutors could possibly charge them with abuse of authority, Reuters says. The Associated Press writes that the charge "can entail both criminal wrongdoing and extreme negligence. That leaves open the possibility of both a deliberate attack on the Americans by corrupt officers and a gross error by well-intentioned but trigger-happy police operating in a dangerous area."

"We are not ruling out any kind of wrongdoing or any line of investigation," Morales told reporters. "We are asking for them to be detained so that we have the time necessary to conduct an exhaustive investigation."

The officers will be transferred to a provisional detention center in Mexico City, AFP says.

Two unidentified U.S. officials are being treated for gunshot wounds and are expected to recover. A Mexican navy captain riding with the two on their way to a Mexican military installation was not hurt.

BLOG: Mexican gunmen, police fire on U.S. diplomatic car; 2 hurt
Mexican and U.S. authorities have provided incomplete accounts of what happened, the Associated Press writes:

The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City said Monday that two U.S. government employees and a Mexican Navy captain were heading to a training facility outside the city of Cuernavaca when they were ambushed by a group of gunmen that included federal police. The Mexican government said federal police were conducting unspecified law-enforcement activities in the rural, mountainous area known for criminal activity when they came upon the car, which attempted to flee and came under fire from gunmen in four vehicles including federal police.

Both countries have declined to offer further details, but experts said the incident would almost certainly affect the thinking of President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto, who has promised to both double the ranks of the current federal police and start a new paramilitary force known as the gendarmerie composed of former military members operating under civilian command.

"We're looking at another example of why there's significant concern over how Mexico has gone about training its federal police," Samuel Logan, director of the security consulting firm Southern Pulse, told the AP.

In June, three federal police officers at Mexico City's international airport were slain by other federales in an apparent drug-related shooting. As a result, all 348 federal officers at the airport have been replaced.

12 Mexican police detained for shooting up U.S. Embassy SUV

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I think that it is another scandal that is being swept under the rug.

Originally Posted by Newmexican

I think that it is another scandal that is being swept under the rug.

Maybe not. I'll wait judgement until the investigation results come out. I guess it's possible this could be a case of over zealous cops with happy trigger fingers. So far everything is on the right track ........ those responsible have been arrested and are being detained.

This is all over the media.

Dozen Mexican cops detained over shooting on US embassy vehicle that injured 2

Fox News‎ - 3 hours ago
Mexican and U.S. officials have offered sketchy official accounts of the shooting that do not address the possible reason why Mexican federal ...

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Dozen Mexican cops detained over shooting on US embassy vehicle that injured 2

Published August 27, 2012
Associated Press


MEXICO CITY – A judge ruled Monday that 12 police officers accused of opening fire on a U.S. embassy vehicle and wounding two embassy employees should remain in detention in an incident that has roiled U.S./Mexican relations and drawn fresh attention to serious problems inside Mexico's premier law-enforcement agency.

Mexican and U.S. officials have offered sketchy official accounts of the shooting that do not address the possible reason why Mexican federal police opened fire on an armored sport-utility vehicle with diplomatic license plates carrying a Mexican Navy captain and two employees of the country's closest ally.

The federal police officers were ordered detained under a form of house arrest for 40 days on suspicion of abusing their authority. That charge can entail both criminal wrongdoing and extreme negligence. That leaves open the possibility of both a deliberate attack on the Americans by corrupt officers and a gross error by well-intentioned but trigger-happy police operating in a dangerous area.

Experts said that either scenario was cause for pessimism about the federal police, which has long been touted as the best hope for Mexico's gaining control of its struggle with organized crime.

"We're looking at another example of why there's significant concern over how Mexico has gone about training its federal police," said Samuel Logan, director of the security consulting firm Southern Pulse.

Mexican municipal and state police are seen as widely corrupt, incompetent or both. Military troops have been accused of an increasing number of human rights violations since President Felipe Calderon sent them into the streets in late 2006. Largely as a result, Mexico's government has made a large-scale effort in recent years to retrain the federal police, purge its ranks of corrupt officers and increase its numbers from 6,000 to more than 35,000 officers.

"They have been pushed to do a lot in a very short time and they are recruiting a lot of young people and they try to push them through the training process very quickly to use new equipment, and to handle new intelligence and to handle operations that are probably better handled by well-seasoned veterans," said Dr. Tony Payan, an expert on Mexico's effort to combat drug cartels and visiting fellow at the James A. Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.

The reputation of the federal police suffered serious damage in June after two federal police officers fatally shot three colleagues at Mexico City's international airport. Authorities said the shooters were part of a trafficking ring that flew in cocaine from Peru. Mexico announced this month that it was replacing 348 federal police assigned to security details at the airport in an effort to quash drug trafficking through the terminal.

Last year, a businessman from Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, accused a group of 10 federal police officers of beating him, torturing him and driving him around town. They released him when he said he would get the money they were demanding.
But instead of getting the cash, used auto parts businessman Eligio Ibarra Amador went to authorities and the federal agents were detained.

In April, Ibarra was stabbed to death inside his home, which was then set on fire. Assailants killed the businessman a day before he was to attend a judicial hearing to ratify his accusation against the officers.
In the case involving the embassy vehicle, U.S. and Mexican officials declined requests for comment on Monday.

The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City said Monday that two U.S. government employees and a Mexican Navy captain were heading to a training facility outside the city of Cuernavaca when they were ambushed by a group of gunmen that included federal police. The Mexican government said federal police were conducting unspecified law-enforcement activities in the rural, mountainous area known for criminal activity when they came upon the car, which attempted to flee and came under fire from gunmen in four vehicles including federal police.

Both countries have declined to offer further details, but experts said the incident would almost certainly affect the thinking of President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto, who has promised to both double the ranks of the current federal police and start a new paramilitary force known as the gendarmerie composed of former military members operating under civilian command.

Observers have predicted that the creation of the new force will increase tensions between the many agencies currently responsible for law-enforcement and public security in Mexico.

"The federal police have been busy for six years creating this image of the federal police as Mexico's modern police force, a police force that responded to a high set of standards, that was well-trained, well-vetted," said Alejandro Hope, a security analyst and former official in Mexico's CISEN intelligence agency . "Clearly the next administration will want to look closely at internal controls. This does not strengthen the case against a new national police force."

A Pena Nieto spokesman declined to comment on the case.
Since 2008, the U.S. government has given $243 million in equipment and $25 million in technical assistance and training to the federal police under the drug-war aid program known as the Merida Initiative.

Under Merida, the State Department says more than 4,300 federal police have completed training at Mexico's Federal Police Academy in San Luis Potosi. Taught by law enforcement professionals from the U.S., Colombia, Spain, Canada, and the Czech Republic, the program includes criminal investigative techniques, evidence collection, crime scene preservation, and ethics.

Congressman Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat closely involved in U.S./Mexican-relations, urged U.S. taxpayers to be patient with the development of Mexican law enforcement.

"We're seeing that in Afghanistan, Iraq, the training part of it does take a while," he said. "I am optimistic that Mexicans want to have a peaceful existence where they're free of drug violence. We need to have a long-term commitment and we need to understand it's going to be years."




Dozen Mexican cops detained over shooting on US embassy vehicle that injured 2 | Fox News

Mexican President committed to clarify attack of US agents

Regrets aggression against US officers
Felipe Calderon spoke about the attack against the US Embassy car. EFE Agencyby EFE Agency
August 28 2012

MEXICO –The President of Mexico, Felipe Calderón, lamented today the attacked against two United States’ officers by Mexican policemen last august 24; he also pledged to conduct a “thorough” investigation of the actions.

In front of US Ambassador Anthony Wayne, Calderón “deeply” regretted the attack and reminded him that the PGR (Attorney General’s Office) is conducting an investigation.

Last Friday two security expert officers from the United States Embassy were shot by the Mexican Federal Police (PF) while travelling inside an armored vehicle with diplomatic license plates through a road in Morelos, in the central area of Mexico.

The van, in which an officer of the Mexican Secretariat of Marine was also travelling, was shot over 40 times by the agents during a confusing incident for which 12 members of the PF are under preventive arrest.

“We cannot allow these actions, be it for negligence, lack of training, lack of trust or complicity,” stated the president today, pledging rigor and severity on a case that has shamed the PF, an office under the Public Security Secretariat (SSP in Spanish).

The president of Mexico offered these four words after the event, addressing the public for the first time during the inauguration of the “Sumemos Causas, Ciudadanos + Policías” forum, organized by the Causa Común NGO.

Calderón thanked Wayne the support his country has given Mexico through the Merida Initiative, the security plan by which the US channels funding and technology to Mexico and Central America.

The leader said that Mexico wants to “keep working hard” with the US in security matters, he also thanked the ambassador for the respect his country has shown to the co-responsibility principle in the fight against organized crime.

Before the meeting, Wayne stated to the press that both countries were joining forces for the investigation to move forward; he also said that the results of this collaboration would soon be released.

“There is a big effort being made by the authorities of both countries to prepare and organize this investigation, and we’ll soon see the outcome of this,” said the diplomat.

A Mexican judge ordered yesterday the preventive detention of the 12 federal policemen involved in the attack against the US embassy car, they were sent to the National Arrest Center while the investigation is conducted.

The court order is based upon an alleged “abuse of authority” and what comes up from the investigation running.

The US Embassy’s first comment was that its agents had “been ambushed by a group of people” that turned out to be Mexican policemen.

editorial@sandiegored.com
Original Text : EFE AGency
Translation : Karen.Balderas@sandiegored.com

Mexican President committed to clarify attack of US agents - Noticias - SanDiegoRed

EFE AGENCY ARTICLE ADDED TO ALIPAC HOMEPAGE News with amended title ..

http://www.alipac.us/content.php?r=8...k-of-US-agents

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