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Consul: River crossing ‘unacceptable’
Published August 13, 2005
Mexico’s acting consul in Del Rio called a crossing of the Rio Grande earlier this week by two Val Verde County Sheriff’s Office investigators illegal and “unacceptable.”
But, he added, he values the close working relationship members of the consulate and the sheriff’s office have built over the years and said he hopes the incident will further open the lines of communication between the two agencies.
In an interview Thursday, Fernando J. Valdés Vicencio, who is currently serving as the Mexico consul here, said Lt. Larry Pope, who heads the sheriff’s office criminal investigations division, and VVSO Sgt. James McGonagill, who is also assigned to the criminal investigations division, violated Mexican law when they crossed the Rio Grande to retrieve property stolen from the U.S. side.
“A person entering Mexico must report to Mexican immigration officers and to (Mexico’s equivalent of) customs. Also, persons must cross at an authorized point of entry, and (the two deputies) were performing acts of authority in a place where they have no jurisdiction at all,” Valdés said.
“Lt. Pope called us and told us about the crossing, so I know it was well-intentioned,” he added.
Valdés said he is aware of the thefts and break-ins in a narrow, populated strip of land along the Rio Grande on the U.S. side commonly referred to as the “vega.”
“We are very well aware of the burglaries and other problems in the vega area, and we understand that the Val Verde County Sheriff’s Office is trying to prevent an incident such as the one with Mr. Patrick Bordelon, but this amounts to an incursion by American authorities into Mexico, and that is unacceptable,” Valdés said.
In the incident to which Valdés referred, a U.S. resident in 1999 shot and killed a teenaged Mexican national who had crossed to the U.S. side of the river near his home.
The consul said it would be similarly unacceptable for Mexican authorities to enter the U.S. in this way, though he admitted that both types of incidents have occurred before along the U.S.-Mexico border.
“We are very interested in cooperating with the sheriff’s office,” he added. “And we know that Lt. Pope attempted to contact authorities in Mexico.”
Valdés noted he hopes to meet at a later date with Val Verde County Sheriff A. D’Wayne Jernigan. “I want to meet with him to reinforce the message that U.S. authorities should not cross into Mexico (in this way),” he added.
“To me, the fact that they left their badges and their sidearms (on the U.S. side) shows that they were trying to be respectful to Mexico, but it’s still an incursion,” Valdés said.
Valdés said the incident would have been much more serious if the two investigators had been armed.
Valdés said he reported the VVSO investigators’ river crossing to his superiors in Mexico City “because this goes beyond the Mexican consul in Del Rio.”
“This is something that has to be dealt with at the highest levels of government,” Valdés added.
Valdés said he made no recommendation to Mexico City about what should be done regarding the incident. Valdés said he also noted in his report the high level of past cooperation between the sheriff’s office and the consulate.
He said he also informed Mexico City of the “situation” on the vega.
Valdés during the interview also alluded to a similar incident that had occurred at Amistad Reservoir, when Mexican fishermen reported that a Border Patrol boat had landed on the Mexico side of the lake and a Border Patrol agent had disembarked.
A spokesman for the Del Rio Sector of the Border Patrol said Friday, “Nobody has ever heard of it happening.”
Valdés said, “I know it’s a difficult situation for the sheriff’s office and even for the Border Patrol because they have to protect the residents there (on the vega). This is something almost like the wild west, and it’s something I want to avoid.”
Valdés said above all he wants to avoid “incidents of violence against Mexican nationals.”
And he said Mexico needs to do its part.
“We would like for Mexico to have more of a police presence in the area,” Valdés said.
Valdés said he would also like to be at the forefront of a push “to make the Mexican consulate in Del Rio more relevant for law enforcement authorities on both sides”
“We understand the sheriff’s office’s need for results, and I want to emphasize that we have a very good cooperation with them,” he said.
Valdés also commented on the close relationship between Pope and the consulate.
He said that Pope had been the lead investigator in a case in which a man, a U.S. citizen, had kidnapped two Mexican nationals, girls, at gunpoint, and had taken them to a remote area south of the Del Rio city limits, where he had forced them to undress.
Valdés said the district attorney’s office in Del Rio recently agreed to a plea arrangement with the defendant for 10 years in prison.
“That was quite satisfactory for us,” Valdés said.
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