Mexican victims of US Border Patrol violence continue fight for justice

MEXICO CITY (CN) — On Sept. 3, 2012, Guillermo Arévalo Pedraza was shot and killed by a U.S. Border Patrol agent while celebrating his wife and daughters’ birthdays.

“It just so happens that my two daughters and I all share the same birthday. There’s a little park right by the river in Nuevo Laredo where we brought meat to grill and just to hang out,” said his widow, Nora Isabel Lam Gallegos, in an interview at a Border Patrol Victims Network meeting this week in Mexico City.

The Border Patrol Victims network is an organization of families affected by Border Patrol violence and volunteers who represent them in order to seek justice.

“We heard a little boat in the river, going back and forth. It seemed like there was someone in the river, swimming,” said Lam Gallegos.

The boat was a Border Patrol vessel making its rounds on the Rio Grande.

“Someone from the boat started shooting, and they were shooting toward the Mexican side of the river. That’s when they shot my husband. A bullet hit him and he fell to the ground.”

https://www.courthousenews.com/mexican-victims-of-us-border-patrol-violence-continue-fight-for-justice/