2 Soldiers Killed After Testifying in Court

Moments after testifying in an immigrant-smuggling case, two army soldiers were assassinated as they sat in a vehicle parked outside the federal courthouse.

Juan Antonio Martinez Catarino, 32, and Miguel Angel Anaya Valenzuela, 24, had been assigned to the Tecate area about 70 miles east of this border city. They died instantly Friday, their bodies sprayed by more than 50 bullets, presumably from AK47 assault rifles, according to the federal attorney general’s office.

Federal authorities would not discuss suspects or possible motives yesterday. Police set up checkpoints at city exits to intercept the suspects.

The killers apparently had lain in wait for the men, who had entered the federal building to testify at noon before the 6th Judicial District and came out about an hour later. The soldiers were sitting inside their green Suburban when they were shot by gunmen who pulled up in a green car, then sped off, authorities said.

Widespread corruption in the federal police force in Baja California led the federal attorney general’s office to replace the entire force with Mexican army soldiers in February. The soldiers who were killed were wearing federal police uniforms and had been assigned the traditional duties of federal agents, like investigating drug and weapons trafficking, bank robberies and immigrant smuggling.

“We’ve known what we’re up against since we got here, and in no way will this inhibit our actions,” said Felipe Perez Cruz, the top federal police commander in Baja California, speaking at the scene of the killings. “On the contrary, we’re going to step up our efforts.”

Perez’s predecessor, Ernesto Ibarra Santes, was shot to death along with his driver while on a trip to Mexico City last year. Five other top officials linked to the federal attorney general’s office in Tijuana were killed in 1996 alone.

Friday’s assassinations appeared similar to ones orchestrated by drug traffickers. Some have suggested that the killings may be linked to last weekend’s arrest by federal agents of Everardo Arturo Paez Martinez, a top lieutenant in the drug cartel run by the Tijuana-based Arellano Felix brothers.

Paez, who was arrested here, faces U.S. federal charges of conspiring with another man to distribute more than 2,200 pounds of cocaine in the United States.