On Wednesday, Gustavo Cruz-Lozano, 41, surrendered to Homeland Security agents at the Hidalgo port of entry in Texas. The Mexican national was taken by ambulance to a local hospital with stab wounds to his neck, which Cruz-Lozano claims he sustained during an attack in Reynosa.
However, KRGV 5 reports that Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Trevino believes the wounds were self-inflicted.
Cruz-Lozano, along with another man, identified as Carlos Medina, has been accused of making death threats against Sheriff Trevino for his efforts to stem drug trafficking through Hidalgo County.
A few days before he turned himself in, Cruz-Lozano appeared on Univision's news magazine show "Primer Impacto," claiming that he murdered U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in the Arizona desert in 2010.
Cruz-Lozano said: "We had a drug shipment and when they took us by surprise, people started surrounding them, and that's when we ambushed them. When they started surrounding them and they had no time to react, I was the one, I was the one that killed him."
Of course, Manuel Osorio-Arellanes has already pleaded guilty to murdering Agent Terry, and while several other suspects were detained after Terry was killed, Cruz-Lozano was not one of them and has never been mentioned in the ongoing investigation.
Lincoln Combs, the Terry family attorney doubts the validity of Cruz-Lozano's claims...
ABC News reports:
"The attorney said that the alleged perpetrators of Terry's death had been previously identified by the authorities. Out of the five drug cartel members involved in the killing, two are being held in the United States (the Osorio brothers), one is in custody in Mexico (Jesus Leonel Sanchez Meza) and and two others, identified as Jesus Favela Astorga and Ivan Rosario Soto Barraza, are missing. The U.S. government has offered $25,000 for information that would lead to their capture.
Another man who purchased the two rifles found at the scene of Terry's death, Jaime Avila, Jr., was sentenced last month to nearly five years in prison."
On December 14, 2010, Agent Brian Terry was shot to death in the Arizona desert, while patrolling one of the region's most dangerous drug and human smuggling corridors. He was actually looking for Mexican bandits who typically prey on those crossing into this country illegally.
Agent Terry encountered a group of those bandits and was shot in the back with an AK-47. At least one round went through his protective vest and ripped through his pelvis. He soon succumbed to his wounds.
Terry was a former Marine and a police officer in Lincoln Park, Michigan. He had been a Border Patrol agent for three years. In his quest for a lifetime of service to his nation, he had plans to become a Secret Service agent.
So, why would anyone confess to a murder he did not commit?
Facing other serious charges, Cruz-Lozano could have been offered a deal by the Mexican government. In exchange for his confession in Terry's murder, the longtime drug dealer's family would be given a cash payment.
While that scenario may sound strange to most Americans, given the facts that the Mexican government is incredibly corrupt and the majority of the Mexican people live in grinding poverty, it is not so hard to believe.
The fact is, the American people have not forgotten Agent Terry's murder, nor have they forgotten that he was killed with a weapon traced back to the Obama administration's notorious Operation Fast and Furious.
This combined with the recent arrest and false imprisonment of former U.S. Marine John Hammar by Mexican police and the fact that the U.S. State Department refused to intervene, both the Mexican and U.S. governments are undoubtedly anxious to demonstrate their ability to control the border and dispense justice fairly (of course, the facts tell a different story).
Also, consider that on Oct. 3, 2012, the day after Border Patrol Agent Nicholas Ivie was killed, Reuters reported that two suspects "were arrested in a Mexican military operation in the city of Agua Prieta, in Mexico's northern Sonora state, a few miles (km) from the spot where Nicholas Ivie, 30, was shot dead, a Mexican Army officer."
This, though the Department of Homeland Security quickly stated that Ivie's killing was a actually a case of 'friendly fire.'
No further information was ever offered as to why Mexican forces believed they had arrested those responsible for Ivie's death, nor was the ultimate fate of the Mexican suspects ever divulged.
Unfortunately, when it comes to the deadly goings-on along the U.S./Mexican border, both respective governments have proven themsleves to be less than trustworthy.
Related articles:
Facts do not support official story in agent's killing
Rubber bullets for Agent Terry?
Terry family: White House is lying
Obama refuses to honor memory of slain agent
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