CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - Pointing their rifles, Mexican security forces chased away U.S. authorities investigating the shooting of a 15-year-old Mexican by a U.S. Border Patrol agent on the banks of the Rio Grande, the FBI and witnesses told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The killing of the Mexican by U.S. authorities - the second in less than two weeks - has exposed the distrust between the two countries that lies just below the surface, and has enraged Mexicans who see the death of the boy on Mexican soil as an act of murder.
Shortly after the boy was shot, Mexican soldiers arrived at the scene and pointed their guns at the Border Patrol agents across the riverbank while bystanders screamed insults and hurled rocks and firecrackers, FBI spokeswoman Andrea Simmons said. She said the agents were forced to withdraw.
HERE IS SOME VIDEO FOOTAGE http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element...ideo.univision
and MORE VIDEO FOOTAGE http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540...89140#37589140
A relative of the dead boy who had been playing with him told the AP that the Mexicans - who he described as federal police, not soldiers - pointed their guns only when the Americans waded into the mud in an apparent attempt to cross into Mexico.
The Mexican authorities accused the Americans of trying to recover evidence from Mexican soil and threatened to kill them if they crossed the border, prompting both sides to draw their guns, said the 16-year-old boy who asked not to be further identified for fear of reprisal.
U.S. authorities said Tuesday a Border Patrol agent was defending himself and colleagues when he fatally shot the 15-year-old as officers came under a barrage of big stones while trying to detain illegal immigrants on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande.
About 30 relatives and friends gathered late Tuesday to mourn Sergio Adrian Hernandez Huereka, who died Monday on the Mexican side of the river border with Texas.
"Damn them! Damn them!" sobbed Rosario Hernandez, sister of the dead teenager, at a wake in the family's two-room adobe house on the outskirts of Ciudad Juarez.
Preliminary reports on the incident indicated that U.S. officers on bicycle patrol "were assaulted with rocks by an unknown number of people," Border Patrol Special Operations Supervisor Ramiro Cordero said Tuesday.
"During the assault at least one agent discharged his firearm," he said. "The agent is currently on administrative leave. A thorough, multi-agency investigation is currently ongoing."
Beneath a bridge linking the two nations
The shooting happened beneath a railroad bridge linking the two nations, and late Tuesday night a banner appeared on the bridge that said in English: "U.S. Border Patrol we worry about the violence in Mex and murders and now you. Viva Mexico!"
Less than two weeks ago, Mexican migrant Anastasio Hernandez, 32, died after a Customs and Border Protection officer shocked him with a stun gun at the San Ysidro border crossing that separates San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. The San Diego medical examiner's office ruled that death a homicide.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon said Tuesday that his government "will use all resources available to protect the rights of Mexican migrants."
The government "reiterates its rejection to the disproportionate use of force on the part on U.S. authorities on the border with Mexico," the president added in a statement.
On an unpaved street, gathered around Hernandez's gray metal casket, the teen's family called for justice.
"There is a God, so why would I want vengeance if no one will return him to me. They killed my little boy and the only thing I ask is for the law" to be applied, said the boy's father, Jesus Hernandez.
His mother was less hopeful. "May God forgive them because I know nothing will happen" to them, Maria Guadalupe Huereka said.
Above the casket was a photo of the youth wearing his soccer uniform and his junior high school grade cards, which showed A's and B's.
His mother said he was a good student who never got in trouble. He was the youngest of five children, played on two soccer teams and had just finished junior high school, she said.
'Grossly disproportionate response'
Amnesty International condemned the shooting and urged the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to conduct an urgent review of the use of force by Border Patrol agents.
"This shooting across the border appears to have been a grossly disproportionate response and flies in the face of international standards which compel police to use firearms only as a last resort," said Susan Lee, Americas director of the London-based human rights organization.
Arturo Sandoval, a spokesman for the Chihuahua state Attorney General's office, said a spent .40-caliber shell casing was found near the body - raising the question of whether the fatal shot was fired inside Mexico, although he did not explicitly make that allegation.
That would violate the rules for Border Patrol agents, who are supposed to stay on the U.S. side of the border - and it also could open the agent to a Mexican homicide prosecution.
A U.S. official said a video shows the Border Patrol agent did not enter Mexico.
COMMENT:
As far as I'm concerned, the Mexican authorities have committed an act of war. Their people violate our borders at will. When we try and stop them, they harass our agents. When our agents defend themselves, the Mexican authorities open fire. THIS MUST NOT BE TOLERATED ANY LONGER! The government must deploy our troops along the border and must be given the freedom to act in any way necessary to keep our borders safe from the Mestizo invaders and the thugs in uniform that call themselves 'Federales'. If they want war, let's give it to them!
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