Marchers Call for Justice in Teen’s Cross-Border Shooting Death
Six months after the shooting of Mexican teenager José Antonio Elena Rodríguez by U.S. border agents, his family and community activists in Arizona are frustrated and fear that the investigation into his death is at a standstill.
More than 100 protesters walked from Nogales, Ariz. through the port of entry and to the pock-marked building just yards from the border where on Oct. 10, 2012, the 16-year-old Rodríguez was shot by two border agents firing through the metal fence.
The march was sponsored by several humanitarian groups, including Derechos Humanos, No More Deaths, Yo Soy 132 Nogales, Kino Border Initiative, and Samaritanos from Green Valley and Tucson.
Protestors marched behind a truck with speakers that played a corrido written about the death of the Mexican teen. They gathered on Calle Internacional, where Rev. Ricardo Machuca Hernández led a prayer and candles were lit near the small shine that marks where Rodriguez fell.
Information on the shooting, including the ballistics report and Rodríguez’s autopsy, has been readily available from Mexican agencies, said Hannah Hafter, the abuse documentation coordinator with No More Deaths. But little has been said by U.S. authorities.
“The U.S. side has been completely silent,” she said.
“We demand justice, we demand a real change,” said Helena Lopez, from Tucson, who came to support the effort.
Read More at the Tucson Sentinel