I heard of this incident the other day while listening to The Wilkow Majority on Sirius radio and since I haven't seen it anywhere else, I thought it deserved some attention here at Holger Awakens. What with all of the criticism that the United States has taken from Mexico and its President about our "tolerance" of illegals in our country, I found it interesting that the Mexican army goes ahead and kills an American citizen in their country and seemingly, at least in my eyes, seeks to cover it up.
Let's look at the details of the shooting and killing of the American man, Joseph Proctor, on the outskirts of Acapulco, Mexico...from the article at the El Paso Times:
A Mexican soldier said that a U.S. citizen attacked an army convoy and was killed when troops shot him in self-defense outside the resort city of Acapulco, a police official said. The man's father said Monday that he found it hard to believe.Okay, now am I crazy here folks or does this little "story" by the Mexican army reek to high heaven? Let me break down this scenario with comments:
An army lieutenant told police that Joseph Proctor opened fire on a military convoy with an AR-15 rifle, forcing the soldiers to shoot back, said Domingo Olea, a police investigator in the western state of Guerrero, where Acapulco is located.
Olea provided no further details on Proctor, who was found dead in his car early Sunday.
A Defense Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the case, said the army was investigating the lieutenant's claim. The official said Proctor might have been a passenger in the car, although nobody else was found with him at the scene.
Proctor's father, William Proctor, said he did not know of his son being involved in any illegal activity and did not believe he would have owned a gun or attacked soldiers.
He said Joseph had sometimes complained about being pulled over by Mexican security forces looking for bribes.
"He would get mad when the police pulled him over looking for payoffs," Proctor said.
1. The Mexican army is renowned for stopping foreigners at check points and shaking them down for bribes and payoffs - Joseph Proctor had a history of vocalizing his objection to these shakedowns.
2. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, an American citizen in Mexico, where assault rifles are illegal, sudddenly comes into possession of an AR-15. By the way, the Mexican army uses American-made AR-15's. And it's my guess that if an American citizen actually WANTED to get an illegal assault rifle in Mexico, the only ones for sale would probably be AK-47's.
3. Joseph Proctor decided he was mad at the Mexican army so he decided to fire on an entire military convoy....from his car! That's right, Proctor was killed while in his car. Now I ask you, if you wanted to mow down a bunch of Mexican soldiers with a weapon the length of an assault rifle, would you be sitting in the front seat of your car?
4. There is no history of crime in Joseph Proctor's past and no history of gun ownership.
So, how about we cut through the bullshit afforded us by the Mexican army spokesman and call a spade a spade. Per Holger, here's what happened:
Joseph Proctor found himself stopped at a Mexican army security checkpoint. The soldiers found an "infraction" regarding his papers or his vehicle and they offered to let Proctor go if he were to hand over some compensation. Proctor lost it. He got mad as hell and resisted the shake down. Things got out of control and one of the soldiers responded by firing off several rounds from his AR-15 into the body of Joseph Proctor while he was inside of his car. Knowing that they made a helluva mistake, the Mexican army commander at the scene had a throwdown AR-15 placed in the car with Proctor and a story of his attack was developed.
Now, whether you believe my take on this story or not....WHERE is the bloody coverage of this story? I mean seriously...we have an American citizen dead at the hands of the Mexican army and not only is the State Department nor our Embassy people doing a damn thing to even investigate this, but there is zero coverage of this. Let's put the shoe on the other foot. How about a Mexican citizen with a visa for America is shot and killed by Arizona National Guard troops in Arizona - would that get any coverage? Wouldn't there be an international and Mexican outrage?
Well, since this happened several days ago and the only press it's getting is from a local Texas newspaper and a peon blogger named Holger...I guess we better just move on, huh?
US man killed by Mexican soldiers near Acapulco
ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) - A Mexican soldier said that a U.S. citizen attacked an army convoy and was killed when troops shot him in self-defense outside the resort city of Acapulco, a police official said. The man's father said Monday that he found it hard to believe.
An army lieutenant told police that Joseph Proctor opened fire on a military convoy with an AR-15 rifle, forcing the soldiers to shoot back, said Domingo Olea, a police investigator in the western state of Guerrero, where Acapulco is located.
Olea provided no further details on Proctor, who was found dead in his car early Sunday.
A Defense Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the case, said the army was investigating the lieutenant's claim. The official said Proctor might have been a passenger in the car, although nobody else was found with him at the scene.
Proctor's father, William Proctor, said he did not know of his son being involved in any illegal activity and did not believe he would have owned a gun or attacked soldiers.
"I doubt that. Joseph had a temper but he didn't use guns," Proctor said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from his home in Auburn, New York.
William Proctor said Joseph, 32, had lived off and on in Mexico for at least six years. He said his son had been in the process of divorcing his wife in Georgia and lived with a girlfriend and their young son in Mexico. He said he had little contact with his son and was unsure what Joseph did in Mexico but that he had worked in landscaping in the U.S.
He said Joseph had sometimes complained about being pulled over by Mexican security forces looking for bribes.
"He would get mad when the police pulled him over looking for payoffs," Proctor said.
Olea said the Mexican girlfriend, Liliana Gil Vargas, identified Proctor's body. She gave Mexican authorities identification papers that listed Proctor as a resident of Georgia.
In brief comments to Mexican reporters, Gil said she last saw Proctor on Saturday night when he went out to run an errand at a convenience store in Barra de Coyuca, a community outside of Acapulco.
Gil said the couple had been living in the central state of Puebla, near Mexico City, but had moved to Barra de Coyuca four months ago.
Joseph Proctor's mother, Donna Proctor, declined to speak to the AP when reached by telephone at her home in Hicksville, N.Y.
A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said consular officials in Acapulco had been in contact with Proctor's family and were providing assistance to repatriate his body. The spokeswoman declined to be named, in line with Embassy policy.
Soldiers frequently come under attack from drug-trafficking gangs in the Acapulco area and there have been cases across Mexico of innocent bystanders dying in the crossfire between soldiers and drug gangs, or of soldiers opening fire on civilians who failed to stop at checkpoints.
The military has faced mounting allegations of human-rights abuses since President Felipe Calderon deployed thousands of soldiers in 2006 to fight drug traffickers in their strongholds.
In November 2009, American Lizbeth Marin was shot to death in the Mexican border city of Matamoros. Mexican newspapers reported that Marin was hit by a stray bullet fired by a soldier participating in a raid.
More recently, two Mexican university students were killed in March in the crossfire of a shootout between gunmen and soldiers outside the gates of their campus in the northern city of Monterrey.
9 comments:
does anyone know what is up w/ Pat Dollard being down for over a week?
Thank you so much for this article.Joseph Proctor was my nephew and the governments...ours and the Mexican..have done nothing but change their stories to our family.
The media gave this story three spots on Tuesday and now NOTHING>Joseph was murdered and not ONE person from the STATE DEPT, senate,assembly,local government offered their condolences or help!His family had to arrange everything through numerous phone calls and misdirections not to mention how much money they needed to get him home...another shake down for money .
Thank you for seeing this for what it is...a cover up of yet another travesty ...Joseph was not a drug dealer, a militant or a gun owner..he was a hard working father of a 5 yr old, trying to build them a home and a future.
Mexico...run by Mexicans, which is why they move here.
To the Uncle of Joseph,
Sir, I am heartbroken reading your comment here - I knew the minute I heard this story it was false and that the Mexican army was covering up a dastardly and cowardly act.
I'm so glad you shared here - I can only offer up to you and your family my prayers for comfort at this time.
Let's hope that one day, we will see justice done to your nephew's killers.
:Holger Danske
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101225/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_mexico_uncovering_cover_ups
an article about Joseph Proctor
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101225/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_mexico_uncovering_cover_ups
Sorry - the link is not working... There is a new article published today about Joseph Proctor. I thought you would like to read it and comment about it. THank you.
Here is a portion:
MEXICO CITY — Joseph Proctor told his girlfriend he was popping out to the convenience store in the quiet Mexican beach town where the couple had just moved, intending to start a new life.
The next morning, the 32-year-old New York native was dead inside his crashed van on a road outside Acapulco. He had multiple bullet wounds. An AR-15 rifle lay in his hands.
His distraught girlfriend, Liliana Gil Vargas, was summoned to police headquarters, where she was told Proctor had died in a gunbattle with an army patrol. They claimed Proctor – whose green van had a for-sale sign and his cell phone number spray-painted on the windows – had attacked the troops. They showed her the gun.
His mother, Donna Proctor, devastated and incredulous, has been fighting through Mexico's secretive military justice system ever since to learn what really happened on the night of Aug. 22.
It took weeks of pressuring U.S. diplomats and congressmen for help, but she finally got an answer, which she shared with The Associated Press.
Three soldiers have been charged with killing her son. Two have been charged with planting the assault rifle in his hands and claiming falsely that he fired first, according to a Mexican Defense Department document sent to her through the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.
It is at least the third case this year in which soldiers, locked in a brutal battle with drug cartels, have been accused of killing innocent civilians and faking evidence in cover-ups.
Such scandals are driving calls for civilian investigators to take over cases that are almost exclusively handled by military prosecutors and judges who rarely convict one of their own.
"I hate the fact that he died alone and in pain an in such an unjust way," Donna Proctor, a Queens court bailiff, said in a telephone interview with the AP. "I want him to be remembered as a hardworking person. He would never pick up a gun and shoot someone."
Sorry - the link is not working... There is a new article published today about Joseph Proctor. I thought you would like to read it and comment about it. THank you.
Here is a portion:
MEXICO CITY — Joseph Proctor told his girlfriend he was popping out to the convenience store in the quiet Mexican beach town where the couple had just moved, intending to start a new life.
The next morning, the 32-year-old New York native was dead inside his crashed van on a road outside Acapulco. He had multiple bullet wounds. An AR-15 rifle lay in his hands.
His distraught girlfriend, Liliana Gil Vargas, was summoned to police headquarters, where she was told Proctor had died in a gunbattle with an army patrol. They claimed Proctor – whose green van had a for-sale sign and his cell phone number spray-painted on the windows – had attacked the troops. They showed her the gun.
His mother, Donna Proctor, devastated and incredulous, has been fighting through Mexico's secretive military justice system ever since to learn what really happened on the night of Aug. 22.
It took weeks of pressuring U.S. diplomats and congressmen for help, but she finally got an answer, which she shared with The Associated Press.
Three soldiers have been charged with killing her son. Two have been charged with planting the assault rifle in his hands and claiming falsely that he fired first, according to a Mexican Defense Department document sent to her through the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.
It is at least the third case this year in which soldiers, locked in a brutal battle with drug cartels, have been accused of killing innocent civilians and faking evidence in cover-ups.
Such scandals are driving calls for civilian investigators to take over cases that are almost exclusively handled by military prosecutors and judges who rarely convict one of their own.
"I hate the fact that he died alone and in pain an in such an unjust way," Donna Proctor, a Queens court bailiff, said in a telephone interview with the AP. "I want him to be remembered as a hardworking person. He would never pick up a gun and shoot someone."
Sorry - the link is not working... There is a new article published today about Joseph Proctor. I thought you would like to read it and comment about it. THank you.
Here is a portion:
MEXICO CITY — Joseph Proctor told his girlfriend he was popping out to the convenience store in the quiet Mexican beach town where the couple had just moved, intending to start a new life.
The next morning, the 32-year-old New York native was dead inside his crashed van on a road outside Acapulco. He had multiple bullet wounds. An AR-15 rifle lay in his hands.
His distraught girlfriend, Liliana Gil Vargas, was summoned to police headquarters, where she was told Proctor had died in a gunbattle with an army patrol. They claimed Proctor – whose green van had a for-sale sign and his cell phone number spray-painted on the windows – had attacked the troops. They showed her the gun.
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