MEXICO CITY — President
Enrique Peña Nieto lashed out Friday at what he called the
“disproportionate use of lethal force” by police officers in Washington
state that led to the death of an unarmed Mexican migrant.
Peña Nieto joined lawmakers in condemning the death of Antonio Zambrano Montes, a 35-year-old orchard worker who was slain by police officers in Pasco, Wash., on Tuesday. Video of the incident shows
an unarmed Zambrano with his arms in the air slumping to the sidewalk
after police officers open fire from a short distance away.
“I
have ordered the Foreign Secretariat to offer support to the family . . .
and to carefully follow the investigation into this lamentable and
outrageous act,” Peña Nieto said.
Earlier in the day, the
Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Mexico’s Congress, condemned the
shooting of Zambrano as an “act that outrages all Mexicans.”
“We
voice our strongest condemnation of these acts of police brutality,” a
statement from the leadership of the 500-seat legislative body said.
The
statement followed a condemnation issued late Thursday by Mexico’s
Foreign Secretariat, which accused Pasco police officers of using
“disproportionate” force against Zambrano, who emigrated to the United
States 10 years ago.
“The government of Mexico deeply
condemns incidents in which force is used in a disproportionate manner,
even more so when that use of force leads to loss of life,” the
statement said.
A statement from the government of the Mexican state of Michoacan, where Zambrano grew up, called Zambrano’s death “murder.”
Three
police officers in Pasco chased down Zambrano and shot him after he
allegedly hurled rocks at automobiles and the officers. Pasco, in
southeast Washington state, has a large community of Mexican residents.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment