Pat Dollard | Young Americans

US Report Says 128 Americans Murdered in Mexico in 3 Years

By Penny Starr - (CNSNews)

A U.S State Department report on “non-natural deaths” of U.S. citizens abroad says that 128 Americans were victims of homicides or “executions” in Mexico between Jan. 1, 2005 and Dec. 31, 2007, and that a majority of these murders took place in Mexican cities located on the southern border of the United States.

All told, during the period in question, 667 Americans were killed in Mexico by “non-natural” causes, including by drowning, auto accidents, and suicides, according to the report.

It is unclear how accurate these numbers are, however, because the State Department says the report “is based solely on cases reported by American citizens to our posts abroad.”

Sixty-eight of the 128 murders and executions of Americans cited in the report took place in Mexican cities immediately on the U.S. border. Another 12 took place in other locations within Mexican states that border the United States.

Thirty-one Americans were reportedly murdered in Tijuana; 21 in Nueva Laredo; six in Ciudad Juarez; four in Matamoros; two in a Mexicali, and one each in Reynosa, Tecate, Puerto Palomas and Nogales.

Two Americans were murdered in San Felipe, Baja California Norte; two in Rosarito, Baja California Norte; two in Ensenada, Baja California Norte, and two in Magdalena, Sonora. One American was murdered in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon; one in Bahia Kino, Sonora; one in Agualeguas, Nuevo Leon; and one in San Quintin, Baja California Norte. Each of these towns is in a Mexican state that borders the U.S.

The two deaths described in the State Department report as “executions” both occurred in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, which borders the United States. One of those executions was reported to have taken place on Jan. 21, 2007 in Ciudad Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, Texas.

No specific city was listed for the other execution, which was reported to have occurred on March 27, 2007.

The State Department issued a written statement pointing to its report on “non-natural deaths” in response to a question that Cybercast News Service asked at a department press briefing on Tuesday:

American Citizens Kidnapped and Murdered in the Mexican Border Region
Question: According to the State Department’s recent Mexico Travel Alert, a number of American citizens have been kidnapped and murdered in the border region. Can you please provide the statistics of American citizens kidnapped / American citizens murdered in 2007 in the border region?

Answer: Travel Alerts are collaborative efforts based on Embassy or Consulate records and information available in the public domain within a particular country. Our posts generally report statistical information based on the jurisdictions they cover. In the case of border posts those jurisdictions extend well beyond the border region. The Department of State’s Report of Non-Natural Death Cases (of American Citizens) Abroad, which is tabulated by country, location of death, and year of death, is a statistical resource available to the public and is based solely on cases reported by American citizens to our posts abroad. We do not currently publish information on kidnappings.

You may review the Report of Non-Natural Death Cases Abroad for Mexico at the following website: http://travel.state.gov/law/family_issues/death/death_594.html

Last month, the State Department issued a travel alert for the border region of Mexico, which remains current as of today.

It says: “Recent Mexican army and police force conflicts with heavily-armed narcotics cartels have escalated to levels equivalent to military small-unit combat and have included use of machine guns and fragmentation grenades. Confrontations have taken place in numerous towns and cities in northern Mexico, including Tijuana in the Mexican state of Baja California, and Chihuahua City and Ciudad Juarez in the state of Chihuahua. The situation in northern Mexico remains very fluid; the location and timing of future armed engagements there cannot be predicted.”

The alert also indicates that “foreign visitors and residents, including Americans, have been among the victims of homicides and kidnappings in the border region.”

It specifically notes the violence in Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez, stating, “Dozens of U.S. citizens were kidnapped and/or murdered in Tijuana in 2007.”

When Cybercast News Service asked at Tuesday’s State Department press briefing how many Americans had in fact been murdered or kidnapped in the border region in 2007, the department responded by posting a statement on its Web site and providing a link to its report of non-natural deaths of Americans around the world between 2005 and 2007.

On the question of abductions, the statement said: “We do not currently publish information on kidnappings.”

The report on “non-natural” deaths, however, indicates that between Jan. 1, 2005 and Dec. 31, 2007, a total of 667 American citizens died in Mexico. During the same period, 35 Americans died in Canada. Only two of the Americans killed in Canada were reported to have been homicides.

Deaths in the report are listed by country and where in a particular country they happened. The cause of death is given, but the victims’ names, ages, occupations and other personal information is not provided.

Other non-natural causes of death for Americans in Mexico, according to the report, included auto accidents, drowning, suicide, “drug related,” air accidents and “other” accidents.