Death Mexico

A Cal State Fullerton student who went to Tijuana for a day of shopping during spring break suddenly collapsed and died on the sidewalk, Mexican authorities said Friday. Kavita Chopra, 21, of Anaheim died Thursday of cardiomyopathy, a heart muscle disease, according to a preliminary autopsy report by the Tijuana coroner's office.

First they killed activist Josefina Reyes. Then her brother. Then they burned her mother's house. Two and a half weeks ago, gunmen dressed in black kidnapped Reyes' sister, sister-in-law and another brother. On Friday, their bodies were discovered, shot and dumped on the side of a windswept road in Chihuahua state. The Reyes family has become a case study of the unrelenting violence ravaging northern Mexico. Surviving relatives Friday angrily blamed government authorities for failing to protect a family "so historically aggrieved.

Re "Mexico's death trap," editorial, Feb. 5 The Times argues that Mexico should not reinstate the death penalty. I agree. Executions have taken the place of an official death penalty policy in Mexico. This quickly failing state can't afford the creation of a death row in its prison system, with the endless appeals and high per-prisoner costs of detention that taxpayers are subjected to in the U.S. Better to spend the funds on public education and polygraph machines for each and every member of the government, police and military.

A U.S. immigration agent who was killed Tuesday in a part of central Mexico increasingly under the influence of drug traffickers has been identified as Jaime J. Zapata. Zapata was shot to death and another special agent was wounded when they were apparently ambushed by gunmen at a fake roadblock, the type often used by traffickers and their henchmen. U.S. Immigration and Customs officials said Wednesday that Zapata was a native of Brownsville, Texas, and four-year veteran of the department on loan from the Laredo, Texas, ICE office.

Grieving relatives laid coffins in the streets here Wednesday as Mexico began its recovery from a magnitude 7.8 earthquake that killed at least 29 people, injured 190 others and reduced parts of this colonial-era capital to heaps of brick and adobe rubble. Overall, Mexico was lucky, because a combination of geography and seismology blunted the effects of one of the strongest earthquakes to strike the nation since a magnitude 8.1 temblor devastated Mexico City in 1985.

A leading environmental group wants an investigation into why thousands of migratory birds are dying at an artificial lake in central Mexico. More than 20,000 wild ducks, herons and a dozen other species of migratory birds have perished since Dec. 11 at the Silva Dam in Guanajuato state, said the Group of 100. The birds stop at the lake en route from Canada and the United States to Mexico and Central and South America.

Mexico mourned the Colosio name again Friday with the death of the charismatic widow of slain presidential candidate Luis Donald Colosio, and political leaders called on investigators to intensify their probe into the unsolved killing of her husband.

First they killed activist Josefina Reyes. Then her brother. Then they burned her mother's house. Two and a half weeks ago, gunmen dressed in black kidnapped Reyes' sister, sister-in-law and another brother. On Friday, their bodies were discovered, shot and dumped on the side of a windswept road in Chihuahua state. The Reyes family has become a case study of the unrelenting violence ravaging northern Mexico. Surviving relatives Friday angrily blamed government authorities for failing to protect a family "so historically aggrieved.

A U.S. immigration agent who was killed Tuesday in a part of central Mexico increasingly under the influence of drug traffickers has been identified as Jaime J. Zapata. Zapata was shot to death and another special agent was wounded when they were apparently ambushed by gunmen at a fake roadblock, the type often used by traffickers and their henchmen. U.S. Immigration and Customs officials said Wednesday that Zapata was a native of Brownsville, Texas, and four-year veteran of the department on loan from the Laredo, Texas, ICE office.

Re "Shooting Puts Pressure on Fox," Jan. 6 Some Mexican commentators and government officials are saying they want a Border Patrol agent tried in their courts in absentia for the death of a Mexican national during a confrontation. They are also suggesting that the U.S. government sign an agreement "that would allow Mexicans to migrate northward 'in an orderly fashion.' " If they are so concerned, they should do something to stop the Mexicans from breaking U.S. law and make them want to stay in their own country, not try to tell us to change U.S. laws for their benefit.

Anti-crime activists on Wednesday decried the slaying of a protest leader in northern Mexico who went public after his brother was kidnapped in May. Benjamin LeBaron, 32, and a brother-in-law were shot to death Tuesday after they were seized by gunmen in Galeana, a farming town in the border state of Chihuahua. The attack bore signs of an organized-crime hit. A message left with the bodies said it was retribution for the capture of 25 drug suspects in a neighboring town.

Re "Mexico's death trap," editorial, Feb. 5 The Times argues that Mexico should not reinstate the death penalty. I agree. Executions have taken the place of an official death penalty policy in Mexico. This quickly failing state can't afford the creation of a death row in its prison system, with the endless appeals and high per-prisoner costs of detention that taxpayers are subjected to in the U.S. Better to spend the funds on public education and polygraph machines for each and every member of the government, police and military.

Re "Shooting Puts Pressure on Fox," Jan. 6 Some Mexican commentators and government officials are saying they want a Border Patrol agent tried in their courts in absentia for the death of a Mexican national during a confrontation. They are also suggesting that the U.S. government sign an agreement "that would allow Mexicans to migrate northward 'in an orderly fashion.' " If they are so concerned, they should do something to stop the Mexicans from breaking U.S. law and make them want to stay in their own country, not try to tell us to change U.S. laws for their benefit.

Grieving relatives laid coffins in the streets here Wednesday as Mexico began its recovery from a magnitude 7.8 earthquake that killed at least 29 people, injured 190 others and reduced parts of this colonial-era capital to heaps of brick and adobe rubble. Overall, Mexico was lucky, because a combination of geography and seismology blunted the effects of one of the strongest earthquakes to strike the nation since a magnitude 8.1 temblor devastated Mexico City in 1985.

The worldwide legal headaches of Ford Motor Co. and Bridgestone/Firestone have widened to include Mexico, where a law firm said Friday that complaints are surfacing each day of serious accidents involving Ford Explorers mounted with defective Firestone tires. The law firm, Servicios Legales Internacionales, says it has filed 12 lawsuits against Ford and Firestone in Nashville, in connection with 28 deaths in Mexico that purportedly resulted from such accidents.

In the Americas, few countries are as expert in the business of magic as Mexico. Romance, illusion, cocaine--fantasy is Mexico's growing export, more important than burritos or the eager hands of its migrant workers. Last week's midday assassination of Francisco "Paco" Stanley, Mexico's beloved comic and game-show host, forced millions of Mexicans to recognize reality: Mexico has become a violent, criminal society. Over and over, Stanley's bullet-ridden minivan was shown on TV.

In the Americas, few countries are as expert in the business of magic as Mexico. Romance, illusion, cocaine--fantasy is Mexico's growing export, more important than burritos or the eager hands of its migrant workers. Last week's midday assassination of Francisco "Paco" Stanley, Mexico's beloved comic and game-show host, forced millions of Mexicans to recognize reality: Mexico has become a violent, criminal society. Over and over, Stanley's bullet-ridden minivan was shown on TV.

A government human rights commission has found that two Huichol Indians charged with killing a U.S. journalist were illegally detained and possibly tortured by soldiers. Under Mexican law, soldiers are not allowed to arrest civilians in criminal cases.

A Cal State Fullerton student who went to Tijuana for a day of shopping during spring break suddenly collapsed and died on the sidewalk, Mexican authorities said Friday. Kavita Chopra, 21, of Anaheim died Thursday of cardiomyopathy, a heart muscle disease, according to a preliminary autopsy report by the Tijuana coroner's office.