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Tuesday, June 6, 2023

Military Shooting at Civilians: Video Shows Apparent Extrajudicial Execution in Nuevo Laredo

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

The images also show that the soldiers altered the crime scene. They placed weapons next to the bodies and removed handcuffs from one of them after he was already dead.


Military personnel dragged one of the wounded in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, on May 18, 2023.

A security camera video shows a new case of mistreatment of five civilians in Nuevo Laredo, in addition to their apparent murder, at the hands of military personnel. The footage, taken on May 18, shows the military taking the civilians out of a pickup truck. Some of the civilians are carrying weapons. The soldiers disarm them, kick them and then place them next to a wall. Minutes later, in a strange moment, the soldiers seem to take shelter from something and, in the meantime, shoot at the civilians. All are killed on the spot except one, who dies later in the hospital.

The images, to which EL PAÍS has had access, show how the soldiers, with the five already dead, also alter the scene. One of the elements grabs long weapons with a red bag to avoid touching them with his hands and leaving fingerprints, and places them next to the corpses. Later, another notices that one of the bodies is still wearing the handcuffs, which they had put on him earlier. He asks another colleague for the key and they are removed. In between, paramedics have come to the scene to take away one of the five, the one who would later die in the hospital. The prosecutor's office did not arrive until hours later.

The officer in charge of the military convoy, infantry lieutenant José Luis N., signed the account of what happened before the Attorney General's Office, in charge of the investigations. In the report, of which this newspaper has a copy, the lieutenant states that he and his men were disarming the civilians, when their companions attacked them with gunfire, "in an attempt to rescue their personnel". According to the officer, the soldiers fired back. Meanwhile, the detained civilians were trying to recover their weapons, according to this version. After the shooting, the soldiers realized that four of the five were dead and one more was in "critical condition", as a result of the crossfire.

The lieutenant's version contrasts with the video, since in the images no other civilian truck is seen near where they are, nor anyone other than the military firing. It can be seen how the soldiers try to take shelter, but it is not possible to see if they are being shot at. In any case, the video shows how at least three soldiers shoot at the five unarmed civilians next to the wall. 

Between the soldiers' shots, one of the five is moving, wriggling, as if he wanted to flee. He looks wounded, blindfolded. Seconds later, he stops moving. EL PAÍS has contacted a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense (Sedena) to find out if the agency has taken any action on what happened. The response was: "I have no information on the matter. I locate the event as such, but I have no further information. I would have to check.

The military approaching the vehicle of the armed civilians.

The episode is reminiscent of the one that occurred in February in the Cavazos Lerma neighborhood, also in Nuevo Laredo. Then, soldiers killed five unarmed young men and left another badly wounded. All had just spent the night at a discotheque. A seventh young man, who was unharmed, later said that the soldiers had attacked them with gunfire for no reason as they were returning home. This young man also said that the soldiers shot one of his colleagues, who was badly wounded, as he was getting out of the car in which they were all riding, when the soldiers had the situation under control.

The February case was highly publicized in the press because several videos showed family members of the boys confronting the soldiers who were guarding the scene. Some soldiers were shooting in the air or on the ground. Civilians managed to knock down some soldiers and kicked them on the ground. The images of that day illustrate the consequences of the covert war that the northeastern border has been experiencing for years. The presumed easy triggering of the military - if it was not something worse - had had fatal consequences.

When the case reached the ears of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, he regretted what had happened, although he avoided pointing out any war and channeled his account in the logic of isolated events. Trying to distance himself from the two previous governments, which registered dozens of cases of extrajudicial executions, tortures and forced disappearances, perpetrated by marines and the military, Lopez Obrador usually points to the punctual error, the theory of rotten apples.

The video, step by step

The sequence of the May 18 case shows the final part of a chase that began after 2:30 p.m., between Lago Chapala Street and Monterrey Avenue, in the south of the border city. The video starts when a dark half-cab pickup truck crosses Monterrey Avenue at full speed and crashes into a wall, just below the security camera of a shopping mall. The time is 14:36. After the crash, military personnel appear walking, pointing at the vehicle. A military vehicle, known in the media as a Sand Cat, used for urban operations, supports them. 

The Sand Cat crashes into the passenger's door and the rear door, preventing anyone from getting out. Meanwhile, other military personnel pull the crewman and his companions out of the pilot's side. Some of them are wearing bulletproof vests and carrying long guns. The soldiers take them off. Some soldiers shoot, apparently at the ground. Because of the shock, the men seem half disoriented. The soldiers subdue them and several kick them. In his report, Lieutenant José Luis N states that "one of them had an exposed wound on his head, due to the vehicular collision".

Then the confusing episode begins. The Sand Cat leaves the lot where the wall is, heading north. At least eight soldiers stay with the detainees. They are close to them, kicking them from time to time. It is 14:45. Suddenly, they all gather around the civilians' truck, some on the driver's side and others on the passenger side. Shots can be seen hitting the ground, about 15 meters away from them, but it is not clear if they are from their own weapons or from others. Most of them pass to the passenger's side, except for one, who remains on the driver's side, a few meters away from where the civilians are. In the images he is seen firing at the detainees several times. From the other side of the truck, two other soldiers shoot at them with their long weapons.

It is then that one of the five civilians tries to flee, crawling away. His face is covered with a bandage. Several of the soldiers shoot at him and he stops moving. The rest do not move, the four lie inert next to the wall. Minutes later the Army Sand Cat appears again, a few hundred meters away, on Monterrey Avenue. No other vehicles are seen nearby. It is 14:48 in the afternoon, everything has happened in just 12 minutes.

Five minutes later, one of the soldiers breaks away from the shelter they have found between the nose of the truck, the front doors, and the wall. He goes to the back, the one facing the avenue. He picks up a rag or a red bag from the ground. He stops for a few seconds because four or five cars pass by on the avenue. The soldiers gesture for them to go away. When no one passes, he grabs a rifle from the bag. He walks and places it next to the body of one of the dead civilians. He then repeats the operation: he returns to the truck, takes another rifle and leaves it next to the body of another of the dead.

In the following minutes, everyone seems to be calm. They are sitting or leaning between the truck and the wall. One of the soldiers seems wounded, lying on the right front tire of the truck. His companions seem to be comforting him. In his report, Lieutenant José Luis N. explains that he is a sergeant, in charge of the vehicle's machine gun, supposedly from the Sand Cat. As he tells it, the sergeant "was injured by shrapnel in his face, the result of impacts that hit the cartridge case of the machine gun."

Paramedics

At 15:01 the Sand Cat approaches the crash site, accompanied by at least three military vehicles. It positions itself next to the bushes and stays there. Five minutes later, one of the soldiers standing next to the civilian truck takes a package from the back seat and hands it to a colleague, who has a cigarette in his mouth. He grabs it and leaves the scene. Immediately after, a group of five soldiers, confident of the presence of the military vehicles, approach the bodies. They seem to touch two of them with their feet. Supposedly, one of them is still alive. Seconds later they drive away. At 3:14 p.m., one of the two men, in white, is seen moving his arms.

Dying, no one approaches him. He moves his arms, his feet, while the soldiers look at him from a distance. They seem to realize that they have made a mistake. The comrade who had previously placed weapons on the bodies has left one near the wounded man. But the civilian seems to have almost no strength left. At 15.17 he is approached by six soldiers, one is carrying a black backpack, another is pointing it at him, just in case he should grab the rifle. But he doesn't. It is not clear what follows. In his report, Lieutenant José Luis N says that a military doctor gave first aid to the wounded man and that, in the meantime, they called an ambulance. The officer notes that the medical vehicle arrived at 15.45.

The military follow protocol. By then, they have already surrounded the scene with yellow tape. The ambulance arrives and four paramedics take the injured civilian away on a stretcher. They put him in the vehicle and leave. In the report, the lieutenant says that "upon continuing with the inspection of the place, two vehicles abandoned by organized crime were found on the same avenue, in a northerly direction. They are two armored vehicles. Inside they found long arms and a .50 caliber rifle, capable of piercing armor.

Parmedics arrive on the scene.

Further ahead they find another vehicle, already on Arandillo Street. In that one they find nothing, but bullet holes. The lieutenant says that those vehicles were the ones that were trying to rescue the five detained civilians. The officer says that at that moment, after 4:00 p.m., they call the FGR office in Nuevo Laredo to report the matter. While they wait, the military try to clean up any mark of irregularity. At 4:28 p.m., one of them notices that one of the four dead civilians left by the wall is wearing handcuffs. He asks him for the keys and takes them off. Another soldier looks on. After a while, experts and prosecutors from the Attorney General's Office arrive at the scene.

The case was a big news story in Nuevo Laredo, not because of the possible executions, but because of the number of alerts it generated on social networks. The confrontations surrounding the alleged murders shook the south of the city. In videos shared on social networks, neighbors can be seen lying on the ground, sheltering from the bullets. The mayor, Carmen Canturosas, asked the population through Facebook not to leave home or work. As usually happens in cases like this, the alarms of that day were met with silence afterwards. Neither the FGR nor Sedena said a word about what happened or the status of the investigations. When asked about it on Tuesday, the Attorney General's Office did not answer.


El País








58 comments:

  1. "They placed weapons next to the bodies and removed handcuffs from one of them after he was already dead"

    I like these troops already 😄

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    Replies
    1. Fukin hero’s!!!!

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    2. CDN getting gang-banged. These troops deserve a raise. Real fucking heroes.

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    3. Damn sol…. You are shady

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    4. If you pussies were soldiers or had any experience you would not be criticizing them.No one told these 'civilians' to roll around with SMGs and grenade launchers.
      Soldiers are empowered by a country are sicarios? Fuck sicaios,,,arriba soldado

      Delete
  2. Give them a raise💪🇲🇽

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  3. Heroes in my book...

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  4. Play stupid games win stupid prices homie. I don’t condone what happened but I can rate it… it needs to happen. kids still want to be sicarios?

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  5. How are they "civilians" if they are armed and out crashing vehicles?

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    Replies
    1. I'm not gonna lie sometimes I don't even read articles I go straight to the comments like with this one. I thought army literary shot at innocent people till I saw comments I was like thank God that wasn't the case

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    2. 9:51
      🤔 Humm Humm
      What the irony, your the one when HEARST goes out of her way, to give a good definitive article, and you say, "oh I didn't have time to read the article, I just went straight to the comments".
      Defeats the purpose..... got to be a 15 year old, of commenting, if you're too lazy to read the article.

      Delete
    3. 6:53 ohiga seño si save que Don Mencho esta vivo y tampoco voy a usar un punto final 🤣

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    4. No mames si hay varios weyes que nomas los comentarios ven

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  6. Those soldiers did the whole world a favor by eliminating those cockroaches. True heroes in my book.

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  7. This is a war. The cartel doesn't play by rules so it doesn't bother me that soldados smoked these sicarios.

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  8. Me encantan los finales felizes 🤣

    ReplyDelete
  9. Que chingen a su madre y se quemen en el infierno con leña verde los hijos de puta

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    Replies
    1. 10:52 Y si! esos culones del CDN es lo que merecen, lo bueno que los soldados estan ayudando 🫡👍

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  10. Is it me or does the video appear to be edited? If there is an original version I want to see it.

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  11. Fuck em. Military did the world a favor. It's war.

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  12. I’m actually very happy to see this

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  13. **Here is the link to the full 8min30sec video where it shows a great deal more. Take note of Red circles indicating who to watch in vid as it's a mess**
    https://www.proceso.com.mx/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 🤔 I always question anything that's been edited. The last clip of the President making a statement that no massacres have occurred under his term is an attempt to push a narrative on Processo's part against AMLO. I just finished watching today's mañanera and the President said the video was being examined, all of the involved military personnel is under investigation and if found guilty, (which I believe they will) will be prosecuted.

      Delete
  14. All them soldiers getting fired

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  15. the media tries to make the miltary look like the bad guy attacking "civilans". these are not innocent civilians these are drug traffickers carrying a long range caliber rifle

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  16. AMLO is a weak President who just wants people to love one another…. And keep giving him money. I wish there wasn’t any surveillance cameras so that this would not have shown on any social media/networks. Now the military will be held accountable, but no one holds the criminals accountable; the coin is flipped and ass backwards.

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  17. Do these troops work for a cartel and killed their rivals? Or good guys killing bad guys?

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    1. 10:55 don't be so ignorant. These soldiers put their ass online daily.Sons a bitches had a 50 cal semi auto barett M82 among other weapons. Killing this filth is a great job and they need to be given medals of distinguished service to the their country moron. Kill more filth , keep up the excellent work chicos. The sooner AMLO and piece of shit biden are gone the better for Mexico and the U.S. More bullets no fucking hugs, adios trash !

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    2. 11:41 🤔 Humm Bug
      Biden does not run Mexico, he is the President of United States of America.
      I don't understand why you bring Biden in the picture.

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    3. @11:41 The Magas can't stand and face the fact it's their candidate toddler Trump who is corrupt,a conman and incompetent.

      Delete
  18. Eran sicarios!! nadie los estranara

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    Replies
    1. Sus mamitas si los van a extrañar

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  19. What did they think the military wanted to take em to lunch .... HELL NO THEY GAVE EM THEIR LUNCH WITH SOME LEAD SANDWICHES WITH SOME KICKS FOR DESSERT

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  20. For as much as I agree with people on here saying them sicarios basically got what they deserved, it still doesn't make it right. Corruption is corruption, and if you guys really wanted to rid Mexico of it, then you would be condemning the actions of the military. The government is suppose to lead by example, not follow in the footsteps of the cartels. This reminded me of the Pajaro Sierra incident where all the enemy cartel men were rounded up and slaughtered on the street. It's something you'd expect from criminals, but not something you'd expect from the soldiers.

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    Replies
    1. People now have feelings for the cartels, that get killed by police, military.
      Give me a break, what about the thousands, they kidnap and kill.

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    2. What you can expect from Soldiers is to take care of each other because the justice system does not allow for charges to stick in these criminals, so, if you shoot at them… they will shoot you back. Easy.

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    3. This dont have shit t do with corruption it has to do with excesive force or brutallity from government forces. Its funny how mexican covilians lynch and burn motherfickers then they bitch when soldiers kill cdn whom is just as shittu and violent as the jaliscas. If they kill jaliscas or cdn trust me mexico is betger for it.

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  21. I’d rather see sicsrios dead than soldiers.

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  22. Support the soldiers dont jump on them,your all fucked in the head

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  23. Why do people give any concern to these rats and criticize soldiers? SOLDIERS SHOULD BE LAUDED

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  24. Soldiers are plainly getting attacked again,they have a twat of a job to do.
    People whining about sicarios rights then hoping soldiers turn up when cartel shit kicks off in civilian areas.Should support soildiers,no wonder they have an attitude,everyone shouts for the criminals rights and castigates the soldiers

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  25. They were NO CIVILIANS. they are soldiers of a different army.

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  26. Very nice outcome.

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  27. 🎶 Exterminio de Zetas v3🎶

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  28. I have family members in Mexico, slayed by these hoez (murdering criminal bandits). Fuqq these motherfuqqerz, walahi, con puro p!nche verga, put!tos. JUDGE, JURY, EXECUTIONER. real judge dredd sh!t up in here

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 9:33 those family members of urs must off been the same filth just different cartel

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    2. Beque que I have members in Belize, ya man fuqq tymer.

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  29. Saw the video on laptop, boy those cameras have high resolution. The scarios , commandos, got injured when they hit the concrete wall, which gave the Mexican Army a head start, they were quick to secure and steal the Barrett and other rifles. In my book I am great full of what they did. Criminals want to play with the Military they get Plomo.

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  30. Those 5 bastards are the ones extorting small merchants and kidnapping and dismembering civilians and other hit men as miserable as they are on the daily. They don't even deserve jail. Those soldiers are heroes.

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  31. Should happen more.

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    Replies
    1. it does... this time happened in front of a security camera...

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  32. Fuck them criminals soldiers did a great job fuck it give the sicarios hell

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