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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Adrian de la Garza Says He Wasn't the Target of Assassination |
| 2011-03-20 |
| For a map, click here. For a map of Nuevo Leon click here. For a map of Monterrey, click here To read the Rantburg report on the attempted assassination of Adrian de la Garza click here. This is another one of those strange incidents similar to the mayhem in Juarez last summer. To read Rantburg reports on that incident, click here. by Chris Covert Last Friday's firefight between armed suspect and agents of the Agencia Estatal Investigaciones (AEI) which left 6 suspect dead has raised a number of questions about the incident, say Mexican press accounts. Friday a statement from the Nuevo Leon governor's office of Rodrigo Medina said that Friday's gun battle was not an attempted assassination attempt of the Nuevo Leon attorney general (PGJE), Adrian de la Garza. A later statement was released by the Procuradora General de Justicia Estatal (PGJE) which also confirmed that that de la Garza wasn't even at the firefight when it took place at 0130 hrs. Statements by the government, even when translated from Spanish leave doubt as to what actually took place. One event that took place just prior to the gunfight seems to cast doubt of the government's version. At about 0100 hrs, a white Dodge Ram was involved in a shooting incident when the occupants opened fire on Nuevo Leon AEI agents, after agents signalled the driver to stop. A alarm over radio was issued by agents on the scene which initiated a pursuit by the AEI agents and ended with the firefight. At the intersection of calles Abedul and Nogal the occupants of the Dodge Ram and other vehicles which arrived on the scene fired on the police agents, who were being assisted by that time by agents of the Seguridad Pública del Estado (SPE) and at least one unit of the Mexican Army. At this location the six suspects died and two state police agents were wounded. The PGJE version conforms with press and SPE accounts, in that a brief exchange of fire took place between security forces and armed suspects 30 minutes before the main incident where six suspects died. Reports from Milenio seem to confirm a brief exchange of gunfire with state police agents before AEI agents moved to relieve the putative security detail, also staffed by AEI agents. So, a subsequent much more intense firefight took place lasting 20 minutes where the six armed suspects died. When enquired, PGJE said they were unaware AEI agents had said they were a security detail for de la Garza, but they also didn't address the contradiction. Where press and government versions diverge is the pursuit by the AEI agents and the gap of 30 minutes before the first exchange of gunfire and the final gunfight. Pursuits of heavily armed suspects in Monterrey are almost always preceded by an exchange of gunfire if the suspects fire first which they also almost always do. Rarely does an element of Mexican security forces initiate gunfire, unless weapons are spotted in the vehicle. Pursuits in the streets of Monterrey do not last long. Drivers for organized crime rarely take driving courses, and since some of them may be from street gangs as far away as South and Central America the extent of the their driving experience comes from auto theft. Their instinct in pursuits seem to be to punch it, and hope they can escape pursuit. Usually, a pursuit ends when either the driver is shot by security forces and crashes, or the driver just crashes. But pursuit never lasts very long, 15 minutes tops, and when they last any amount of time, the Mexican press in Monterrey is very diligent in reporting the streets and colonies through which the pursuit takes place. It's their job outside of the information the PGJE provides. The governor said that the Adrian de la Garza was not in the area at the time of the firefight, but was instead on his way home near the place where the main part of the firefight took place. Milenio said it had witnesses to the assassination attempt that said de la Garza was indeed there at the time of the main firefight. The security spokesman for the AEI, Jorge Domene, contradicted the governor. Domene described his version of the attack (paraphrasing): "The AG job is a 24 hour job, and while the suspect vehicles were in the same colony where Adrian de la Garza lived, and the drivers did not respond to police signals. There was a gunfight." Jorge Domene said Adrian de la Garza was possibly at the scene of the firefight, possibly in a different capacity, an official one and not as a victim. "I was at home," said Domene, "And that if de la Garza was in that van, that is for the facts to decide." In the aftermath of the incident, the white Dodge Ram pickup truck was found Friday after it had been ransacked by a junk collector. Witnesses in the area at the time said the vehicle was abandoned only minutes after the firefight. The suspects aboard the vehicle escaped by crossing roofs of residences. |
| Posted by:badanov |
