December 26, 2010
American Gunned Down, Framed by Mexican Troops
Remember folks: it's American gun dealers that are the cause of violence in Mexico, not rampant Mexican corruption:
Joseph Proctor told his girlfriend he was popping out to the convenience store in the quiet Mexican beach town where the couple had just moved, intending to start a new life.The next morning, the 32-year-old New York native was dead inside his crashed van on a road outside Acapulco. He had multiple bullet wounds. An AR-15 rifle lay in his hands.
His distraught girlfriend, Liliana Gil Vargas, was summoned to police headquarters, where she was told Proctor had died in a gunbattle with an army patrol. They claimed Proctor — whose green van had a for-sale sign and his cell phone number spray-painted on the windows — had attacked the troops. They showed her the gun.
His mother, Donna Proctor, devastated and incredulous, has been fighting through Mexico's secretive military justice system ever since to learn what really happened on the night of Aug. 22.
It took weeks of pressuring U.S. diplomats and congressmen for help, but she finally got an answer, which she shared with The Associated Press.
Three soldiers have been charged with killing her son. Two have been charged with planting the assault rifle in his hands and claiming falsely that he fired first, according to a Mexican Defense Department document sent to her through the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.
It is at least the third case this year in which soldiers, locked in a brutal battle with drug cartels, have been accused of killing innocent civilians and faking evidence in cover-ups.
A ban of non-commercial travel and mined border would go a long way towards minimizing this and other problems, including illegal immigration, terrorist infiltration, and drug smuggling.
If this had happened in the US, there would be hordes of civil rights activists and Mexican community leaders in the street protesting.
In Mexico, however, foreigners are subject to deportation if they try to demonstrate against the government.
Yet somehow it is the United States that is oppressive of foreigners.
"Safest Border in 20 years"-O Imam
50 miles south of Brownsville the cartel took a businessman's ranch by force, Alamo of 2010.
I wonder how that would fly on the King Ranch?
My wife has asked on several occasions to go to Mexico for vacation, and things like this just keep stacking up in the "Reasons Why Not" column. We need to face facts. We are bordered to the south by a Third World country that is run by criminals,either elected or cartel. The police cannot be trusted. the Mexican army seems to waver between legitimate uses and acting as hired guns for the cartels.
We need to cut off all non-essential contact with Mexico, and advise our citizens to get out of that hell hole as soon as they can.
Posted by: DaddyBear at December 27, 2010 01:50 PMThe police in Mexico are just as bad, if not worse. We had a girl in our town that went to Mexico for a senior trip. She entered a bar and ordered a drink, with friends. She felt uneasy and left. When she got to the road, the police came out of the bar and accused her of passing conterfient money. She was put in jail. I might add she is very attractive. Her parents learned of the problem and called a local attorney. He knew the game and went to Mexico with $5000. This made the whole thing go away. Rule of thumb, don't go to Mexico. There is nothing there worth seeing or doing.
Posted by: david at December 28, 2010 11:03 AMNot to blame the victim, but who in their right mind would *move* to Mexico in this day and age? Had they not been watching the news the last few years? I'm with David: There is nothing there worth seeing or doing.
Posted by: Carol McL at January 1, 2011 03:06 PM
