Latin America: Week in Review, United States
U.S. Immigration Agent Killed By Gunmen In Mexico
February 16, 2011 By Staff
U.S.-Mexico border
Today in Latin America
Top Story — Gunmen in Mexico killed a U.S. Immigration agent and seriously wounded another Tuesday as the agents drove north of Mexico City.
It is the latest attack on U.S. officials in Mexico following the killing last March of a U.S. employee of the American consulate and two others in Ciudad Juárez.
The two agents were driving in the northern state of San Luis Potosí when they were stopped at what appeared to be a military checkpoint. At the alleged checkpoint, someone opened fire on them, an official said.
“Let me be clear: any act of violence against our ICE personnel – or any DHS personnel – is an attack against all those who serve our nation and put their lives at risk for our safety,” Napolitano said, according to The Miami Herald. “The full resources of our department are at the disposal of our Mexican partners in this investigation. We remain committed in our broader support for Mexico’s efforts to combat violence within its borders.”
U.S. and Mexican officials said they were working closely together to investigate the shooting and find those responsible.
The Mexican government issued a statement “energetically condemning this grave act of violence,”and pledged assistance to the injured agent and offering to help resolve the case.
Headlines from the Western Hemisphere
North America
- France pressed Mexico on the status of a French woman who is serving a 60-year prison sentence on kidnapping charges in Mexico.
- Mexican military troops captured an alleged boss of the Zetas drug gang in the rural southern municipalities of Nuevo León.
- There is a proposal in Arizona that would require hospitals to check the immigration status of patients before giving them non-emergency care.
Caribbean
- An amendment offered by Florida Senators Marco Rubio and Bob Menendez would bar additional U.S. airports from offering flights to Cuba.
- Oscar winner Sean Penn has returned to publicly pressing the case for the world’s help in rebuilding Haiti from its devastating 2010 earthquake.
Central America
- Central America has had the highest rate of forest loss in Latin America for the last decade despite efforts to curb the decline, a U.N. report says.
- Shares of Altair Nanotechnologies Inc. (ALTI) jumped in after-hours trading after it was awarded an $18 million contract to provide a 10-megawatt energy storage system for one of El Salvador’s largest electric generation utilities.
- José Gabriel Garmendia, a former contra who last year launched a one-man insurrection against President Daniel Ortega’s government, allegedly died in the Nicaraguan mountains Sunday after being shot.
Andes
- Dozens of opposition Venezuelan lawmakers boycotted a special congressional session honoring 19th-century independence hero Simon Bolívar on Tuesday, saying the guest speaker did not share their democratic values.
- Colombia’s Ecopetrol has tendered some Castilla oil against dated Brent crude in another move that could further undermine West Texas Intermediate’s already battered U.S. benchmark status.
- Bolivia is nearer to meeting its goal of becoming a major iron ore exporter after agreements reached with an Indian company promised to kick off the trade in March, officials said.
Southern Cone
- The Brazilian Supreme Court sent out a public apology for a message on its Twitter account calling for the president of the Senate to resign.
- Brazil sent to California nearly two dozen penguins to be resettled in a cooler clime, after they washed ashore in Brazil last year.
- Tensions between Argentina and the United States rose as the countries fought over the seizure, by Argentinian authorities, of materials that arrived on a U.S. Air Force cargo plane last week.
Image: qbac07 @ Flickr.
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