Mexico official blames army in two child deaths

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Mexico official blames army in two child deaths
The military had said the two children were killed at Easter after their van was caught in cross-fire between troops and drug gang gunmen. But the human rights official rejects the account.
By Ken Ellingwood, Los Angeles Times

June 16, 2010 | 4:37 p.m.

Reporting from Mexico City — Mexico's human rights ombudsman Wednesday blamed the army for the April shooting deaths of two children that stoked a raging debate over the military's role as a domestic police force.

Raul Plascencia, president of the National Human Rights Commission, rejected the military's assertion that the van in which the two boys were riding near the U.S. border was caught in a cross-fire between soldiers and gunmen.

Plascencia said the wounds resulted from "direct and discretionary" fire by Mexican troops.
Five others in the van were wounded in the Easter weekend incident, which took place on a highway in Tamaulipas state where drug-trafficking organizations have engaged in fierce clashes.

Family members of the boys, ages 9 and 5, have said masked men in uniforms started shooting after the van's occupants rolled down the windows and slowly drove past what appeared to be a military checkpoint.

Members of the Almanza family, which was on its way April 4 to a beach outing on the Gulf of Mexico, said they were attacked with guns and grenades even after crying for mercy and trying to flee on foot.


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-checkpoint-20100617,0,6753807.story