Fatal Mexican border shooting sparks armed stand-off on the Rio Grande
VIDEO
An armed confrontation between Mexican soldiers and US Border Patrol agents was threatening to create a full-scale diplomatic incident last night.
The stand-off on the banks of the Rio Grande took place on Monday after a Mexican teenager was shot dead by US officials. The FBI, who have begun an investigation into the shooting, said that Border Patrol agents were chased away from the scene by Mexican officials pointing their rifles at them across the river.
The second fatal shooting in two weeks came after President Obama’s pledge to “secure the border” by sending up to 1,200 additional troops to the frontier. The White House’s attempt to increase security was thought to be part of a long-term plan to win bipartisan support for immigration reform. A sharp rise in violence on the border, however, may leave the President with a revolt from the liberal wing of his party, who claim that the human cost of increased security is too high. Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department said that the number of Mexicans killed or wounded by US immigration authorities has risen from 5 in 2008 to 17 so far this year.
Details of the armed confrontation between the countries emerged yesterday, a few hours after the funeral of Sergio Adrian Hernandez Heureka, 15, in Ciudad Juárez. His mother, Maria Guadalupe Heureka, said that he was going to borrow money for school supplies when he was shot.
Mexico has sent a complaint to Washington over the shooting, which US officials said was self-defence. The FBI said that Mr Hernandez was with a group of illegal immigrants trying to sneak into El Paso, Texas across the dry riverbed. Two of them were detained and US officials said that the teenager began to throw rocks.
Mexican security forces arrived to find the dead teenager. A 16-year-old relative said that the Mexicans then pointed their guns when US officials waded into the mud in an apparent attempt to cross into Mexico.
The soldiers 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, the relative said.
Andrea Simmons, an FBI spokeswoman, said: “It pretty quickly got very intense over on the Mexican side.” She added that FBI agents later resumed the investigation with the Mexican authorities still pointing guns at them from across the river.
Tensions have been heightened on the border since Arizona passed a controversial anti-immigration law.