News (Media Awareness Project) - Mexico: Mexico Says Video Won't Cost Federal Investigators |
| Title: | Mexico: Mexico Says Video Won't Cost Federal Investigators |
| Published On: | 2005-12-05 |
| Source: | Billings Gazette, The (MT) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-01-14 22:00:32 |
MEXICO SAYS VIDEO WON'T COST FEDERAL INVESTIGATORS THEIR JOBS
MEXICO CITY -- Mexico's top anti-drug prosecutor will not lose his
job despite doubts about whether federal agents were involved in the
videotaped beating and torture of four drug hit men, a government
spokesman said Monday.
Ruben Aguilar, chief spokesman for President Vicente Fox, said that
no federal investigator was in danger of being fired in the wake of
the recording, which has sent shock waves through Mexico's
anti-narcotics efforts.
"It doesn't put anyone at risk" of losing their jobs, Aguilar said
during his daily briefing with reporters.
But he refused to comment on a contradiction between the statements
of Deputy Attorney General Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos -- Mexico's
top drug trafficking and organized crime investigator -- and Attorney
General Daniel Cabeza de Vaca.
Santiago Vasconcelos said last week that investigators were gathering
evidence to charge 11 federal agents who had been hired by drug
smugglers to kidnap and torture the people in the video. He said
eight of those suspects had been arrested, but late Friday a judge
freed five because of a lack of evidence.
On Sunday, Cabeza de Vaca said that there was no solid evidence yet
that any federal agents were involved.
Aguilar refused to comment at length on the discrepancy, saying only
that the president supports the comments made by his attorney general.
The video shows grainy images of four men sitting bruised, bloody and
bound before a curtain of black garbage bags. Prodded by an unseen
interrogator, they describe themselves as hit men for the Gulf
Cartel, detailing how they kidnapped, tortured and killed their enemies.
They also say they worked with Mexican law enforcement agencies.
In one section of the video a hand clutching a gun appears and shoots
one of the men in the head.
The DVD, time-stamped May 16, was sent anonymously to the Kitsap Sun
in Bremerton, Washington, last month. The newspaper forwarded the
recording to the Dallas Morning News, which released it, along last week.
MEXICO CITY -- Mexico's top anti-drug prosecutor will not lose his
job despite doubts about whether federal agents were involved in the
videotaped beating and torture of four drug hit men, a government
spokesman said Monday.
Ruben Aguilar, chief spokesman for President Vicente Fox, said that
no federal investigator was in danger of being fired in the wake of
the recording, which has sent shock waves through Mexico's
anti-narcotics efforts.
"It doesn't put anyone at risk" of losing their jobs, Aguilar said
during his daily briefing with reporters.
But he refused to comment on a contradiction between the statements
of Deputy Attorney General Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos -- Mexico's
top drug trafficking and organized crime investigator -- and Attorney
General Daniel Cabeza de Vaca.
Santiago Vasconcelos said last week that investigators were gathering
evidence to charge 11 federal agents who had been hired by drug
smugglers to kidnap and torture the people in the video. He said
eight of those suspects had been arrested, but late Friday a judge
freed five because of a lack of evidence.
On Sunday, Cabeza de Vaca said that there was no solid evidence yet
that any federal agents were involved.
Aguilar refused to comment at length on the discrepancy, saying only
that the president supports the comments made by his attorney general.
The video shows grainy images of four men sitting bruised, bloody and
bound before a curtain of black garbage bags. Prodded by an unseen
interrogator, they describe themselves as hit men for the Gulf
Cartel, detailing how they kidnapped, tortured and killed their enemies.
They also say they worked with Mexican law enforcement agencies.
In one section of the video a hand clutching a gun appears and shoots
one of the men in the head.
The DVD, time-stamped May 16, was sent anonymously to the Kitsap Sun
in Bremerton, Washington, last month. The newspaper forwarded the
recording to the Dallas Morning News, which released it, along last week.
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