At Funeral of Assassinated Mexican Cop, Fellow Officers Seem Cheery
Gunned down in the bedroom of his home, inches from his wife and infant daughter, Juan Jose Soriano is a prime example of why Mexico’s drug war isn’t likely to be won by authorities there anytime soon.
Often, when police officers are assassinated in Mexico, people assume they must have had some involvement in the country’s gangster-laden drug trade, the Los Angeles Times reports. But in this case Soriano, 35, who was the newly appointed deputy chief of the Tecate Police Department, seemed to be doing his best to clean up the department and help U.S. authorities when cooperation was requested. And, since he was assassinated late last year, such cooperation is nonexistent in the mountainous city of 120,000 about 40 miles east of Tijuana, the newspaper noted in an article published yestesrday.
The deterrent message sent to other honest Mexican cops by Soriano’s assassination was clear at his funeral, “where many cops seemed to be celebrating his death, said one person who attended. Some laughed, while others chatted loudly in gestures of disrespect,” the newspaper recounts.
“Mexican authorities suspect police were involved in the slaying, either as the triggermen or the lookouts for hit men. Nobody has been arrested in the case.”
As discussed in earlier ABAJournal.com posts, the country is undergoing a wave of drug-related violence, some of which has spilled over into the U.S.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Mexican Prez Discusses Police & Court Reform Plan”
ABAJournal.com: “Another Top Cop is Murdered in Mexico”
ABAJournal.com: “Are Criminals Winning the Mexican Drug War?”
