By Mark O’Brien
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, United States — A Guatemalan diplomat this week questioned the actions of Texas Rangers who fired gunshots from a helicopter on a pickup truck of undocumented immigrants hiding in the bed.

The incident, which happened near the U.S.-Mexico border on Oct. 25, killed two people and injured one.

“I have a lot of questions,” said Alba Caceres, the Guatemalan consul in McAllen, a border city about 15 miles east of where the incident took place.

The Department of Public Safety, which is in charge of the elite squad of Texas Rangers, said troopers suspected the truck was smuggling drugs because of the covered pickup bed.  Instead, six men lay under that cover, along with three men in the pickup cab, a driver, and a human smuggler.

“Why aren’t the narco-traficos pursued this way?” Caceres asked, referencing drug smugglers.  “Maybe if the officer explained why they made the determination to shoot them, we would understand.  Right now, I am very confused.”

The Los Angeles Times reported that troopers have authority to fire from helicopters to stop a driver, defend themselves or someone at risk, or make an arrest.

The Times also reported that the immigrants, all field workers, each paid $5,000 to be smuggled through Mexico and into Texas.  They had spent nearly three weeks traveling from their hometown of San Martin Jilotepeque, about an hour outside the Guatemalan capital of Guatemala City.

In a statement, the Texas Department of Public Safety said troopers believed the driver’s recklessness was a threat to public safety, considering elementary and middle schools were located less than three miles away from the scene of the incident.

“Although it is very tragic that two lives were lost, had the vehicle continued recklessly speeding through the school zone, any number of innocent bystanders or young lives could have been lost or suffered serious bodily injury,” said DPS Director Steve McCraw.

The trooper involved in the shooting returned to work on Thursday after being placed on administrative leave.  He has been assigned administrative duties pending the outcome of an internal investigation.

The victims were identified as Jose Leonardo Coj Cumar, 32, and Marcos Antonio Castro Estrada, 29.  Coj left behind three children and his pregnant wife in order to earn money for a surgical procedure one of his sons needed.  Caceres said Coj did not want to travel illegally but had to for his son.

“We have expressed our outrage at this incident, and we will pursue all the measures necessary to ensure that this is not forgotten or filed away,” she said.

Caceres also said she was awaiting death certificates to allow the bodies to be returned to Guatemala.  The surviving Guatemalans were in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

For further information, please see:

The Brownsville Herald — ACLU Voices Concerns of DPS Shooting — 2 November 2012

The Huffington Post — Miguel Avila, Texas Trooper in Chopper Shooting of Two Undocumented Immigrants, Returns to Work — 2 November 2012

The Los Angeles Times — Guatemala Seeks Answers in Texas’ Fatal Shooting of Migrants — 31 October 2012

The Dallas Morning News — Guatemalan Diplomat: Texas Agents Who Fired on Pickup Should’ve Seen It Held People, Not Drugs — 30 October 2012