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Last week, EL UNIVERSAL released a video that showed the moment when Mexican soldiers ordered the execution of a young man who survived a shooting between the army and alleged criminals on July 3.
The footage sparked outrage and concern among Mexicans and prompted President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to order an investigation. The United Nations also asked Mexico to investigate the incident.
Days after the video was released, EL UNIVERSAL reported that the soldiers said their cameras were off during the shooting, even when the law requires them to record their every move during operations.
This newspaper also revealed that three innocents had died during the deadly attack after criminals kidnapped them.
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One of the victims was Damián Genevez Tercero. Damián went missing on June 24 and died on July 3, after being shot in the head.
Damián, Arturo Garza, and Ángel Núñez had been kidnapped by a criminal group. Their hands and feet were tied, and they were shot dead at point-blank range . They were just 18, 19, and 25 when they were shot dead after going missing between June 24 and June 30.
During the incident registered in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, 12 civilians died, Sedena vehicles received 23 gunshots, and several criminals fled the scene.
Initial response
When EL UNIVERSAL first published the story on July 14, colonel Francisco Enríquez Rojas explained it would be nearly impossible for the army to know who was a criminal, and who was not, during the shooting .
However, the footage shows that a solider asked others to stop shooting, but they ignored the order. And although the soldiers argued that all their cameras were off during the operation, the video contradicts their allegations.
For Héctor Garza, Arturo’s father, the death of his son was not an accident because the soldiers ignored the order to stop shooting and especially because one of the soldiers tells others to kill him. He adds that “whether it is my son or whether it is a criminal, they don’t have the right to kill him (…) that was not an accident.”
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The victims’ families fear retaliation
Raúl Tercero, Damián’s father, filed a formal complaint after noticing army vehicles outside his home in recent days. The man and his wife testified before the Attorney General’s Office.
He says he “wants justice, that is what I am asking for. I’m risking my life. They arrive at my door around 11 pm, or 12 am.”
Raúl Tercero, the father of one of the alleged kidnap victims in the truck, said in a criminal complaint filed on August 7 that he received the video from a soldier who apparently disagreed with his comrades’ behavior.
Tercero and his son are migrants from Chiapas who came to Nuevo Laredo seeking work. The other two kidnap victims killed in the shootout were a local mechanic and an engineering student reported missing days before.
The independent Nuevo Laredo Human Rights Committee said the three had no weapons on them, tested negative for having fired weapons, and were shot at close range. Relatives of two of the men said their bodies were found with their hands tied.
Last week, Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval said the investigation will be carried out by military prosecutors and revealed between 22 and 24 soldiers were under investigation.
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