“Char” for Borderland Beat
This article was translated and reposted from INFOBAE
WRITTEN BY: OCTAVIO VARGAS
Of the 16 military personnel arrested in June; 10 were released because the commander of the Infantry Battalion did not show up to testify.
Soldiers with guns approach a pickup truck after it crashed into a wall at high speed in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, May 18, 2023, in this screenshot obtained from a distributed video. El Pais Newspaper/Folleto via REUTERS
In May of this year, a security camera video surfaced showing how a group of soldiers shot five people in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, after the alleged assailants, who were driving a black pick-up truck, crashed into a fence.
In June, federal authorities initiated proceedings against 16 members of the Army for disobedience, among other charges; however, it was announced that 10 of the imprisoned soldiers were released from the prison of Military Camp 1-A, located in Naucalpan, Mexico City, reported El Universal.
According to the media, the reason for the release of the soldiers was because the crime of disobedience of which they were accused was not committed. It was the First Control Judge of the First Military Region who revoked the indictment since the commander of the Infantry Battalion that participated in the events did not appear to testify to clarify the alleged order not to pursue and confront the alleged members of the criminal organization.
Mexican soldiers keep watch as a forensic technician works a crime scene where five men were killed following a chase by federal forces, in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico May 18, 2023. REUTERS/Jasiel Rubio
It should be noted that a lieutenant and five military personnel are still in custody for the events, and are facing charges of aggravated homicide and unlawful exercise of public service by the Attorney General’s Office.
What happened in Nuevo Laredo?
In May of this year, the newspaper El Pais revealed a video showing how a platoon followed a private black van, which crashed into the fence of a supermarket, to where security forces caught up with them.
The Secretary of National Defense (Sedena) shared the version that the murdered men assaulted the uniformed men after a chase. Jose Luis Nava Martinez, a lieutenant, said that the soldiers had asked the men to get out of the vehicle in which they were traveling.
Supposedly the deaths were the result of an exchange of bullets, since the soldiers heard gunshots coming “from all directions”, so they tried to repel the aggression, however, this version goes against the evidence, since it is seen how the soldiers detained and executed the armed men, and then altered the scene.