Mexico Investigates Death of Man Shot in U.S. by Border Patrol Agent

[Judi Lynn]

Mexico Investigates Death of Man Shot in U.S. by Border Patrol Agent

By GINGER THOMPSON
Published: January 4, 2006

MEXICO CITY, Jan. 3 - The Mexican authorities are investigating the death of an 18-year-old Mexican man shot by a United States Border Patrol agent after he had illegally crossed the border into California.

Witnesses told Mexican authorities that the man, Guillermo Martínez Rodríguez, was shot Friday. A brother and two other men traveling with him helped him to return to Tijuana, where he died in a hospital a day later.

Todd Fraser, a spokesman for the Border Patrol, acknowledged the shooting in a telephone interview on Tuesday, saying that an agent had "come under attack by an assailant who was throwing rocks." The agent "fired back in self-defense," Mr. Fraser said. Then, he said, the migrant climbed back over the fence and fled into Mexico.
(snip/...)

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/04/international/americas/04mexico.html

[Horse with no Name]

1. I find it reprehensible that this won't receive the attention that

it deserves.:(

[High Plains]

2. Shot in the back

"Guillermo Martinez Rodriguez, believed to be about 18, was wounded by a single gunshot to the back of his right shoulder near the San Ysidro Port of Entry on Friday, said Luis Cabrera, the head of the Mexican Consulate in San Diego. The teen was trying to sneak into the United States with his older brother to find work, Cabrera said.

Authorities said he crossed back into Mexico after the shooting and ended up at a Tijuana hospital, where he died the next day.

"We are very sorry this young man died. We condemn the use of force," Cabrera said at a news conference in San Diego.

Armed agents are in no position to deal with the complex social and economic roots of immigration, Cabrera told reporters. "It is not just by law enforcement and use of force you can tackle this phenomenon. We want for both countries a secure and safe border, and it's not by use of force that we will do this."

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20060103-9999-1m3shooting.html

[EFerrari]

3. Yes, shot in the back. 18 years old, poor and now, dead. n/t

[Sadie5]

4. I feel bad for this young man

But Vicente Fox shares much of the blame for this. He has kept dictatorship alive in it's finest fashion. He has done nothing for his people. No wonder Bush and Fox are such good pals. Both favor dictatorships.