Joint Mexico-U.S. Probe of Grave Site Defended

FBI Director Louis J. Freeh joined Mexican officials for an appearance at a suspected narco-trafficking burial ground Friday, stressing the harmony--and legality--of the two countries’ investigation.

Speaking just yards from where human remains were found this week on a ranch near Juarez, which is just across the border from El Paso, Freeh thanked Mexico for “the invitation” to take part in the search for suspected victims of drug violence.

“We are here simply as partners, as invited guests, and in this case technical experts,” Freeh said of the FBI’s role. The U.S. agency, he added, is lending technical help but has no jurisdiction inside Mexico.

Responding to criticism within Mexico about the FBI’s role in the investigation, Mexican Atty. Gen. Jorge Madrazo Cuellar read sections from a 1990 mutual assistance pact between U.S. and Mexican law enforcement. The current probe is a continuation of years of cooperation between the two countries, Madrazo said, and in no way undermines Mexican sovereignty.

“What affects sovereignty is not attacking criminal organizations,” he said. “We are not going to leave one corner of Mexico to the sovereignty of drug traffickers.”

His voice rising in indignation, he went on: “International cooperation . . . is a way to support the sovereignty of Mexico. . . . I assume all responsibility for having solicited the help of the FBI--and I will continue to do so, because I am acting in accordance with the law.”

FBI agents, Mexican soldiers and law enforcement officers descended on the ranch Monday after an FBI informant reported the presence of graves on the property. Authorities since have found the remains of six bodies at the ranch and identified three more sites as possible clandestine burial grounds.

As many as 22 Americans, and dozens of Mexicans, have disappeared from Juarez in recent years and may be buried at the sites. Mexican and U.S. officials say most of the disappearances are related to Juarez’s far-reaching drug trade, which became chaotic and bloody after the death of its kingpin two years ago.

Freeh said investigators won’t speculate on how many bodies they expect to unearth, although authorities originally had cited the number of disappearances when estimating how many cadavers could possibly be found at the sites.

Standing with Freeh at the dust-blown ranch known as La Campana, or “The Bell,” where most of the digging so far has taken place, Madrazo said authorities will investigate whether Mexico’s federal police played a role in the disappearances.

So far, five people, including the co-owner and caretaker of La Campana, have been taken into custody, and bullet-riddled vehicles and empty gun casings have been found at another ranch, he said.

Madrazo and Freeh’s public display of solidarity came in the wake of several days of critiques from Mexican politicians over the traditionally sensitive topic of U.S. intervention. Presidential candidate Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, the son of one of Mexico’s most revered presidents, this week called the joint investigation “clear evidence of the submission of the current government to an external authority.”

In Mexico City, a group of senators grilled the foreign minister about the FBI’s precise role in the probe, asking why the two countries had decided to transfer any cadavers to forensic labs in the U.S. and why the Mexican attorney general’s office didn’t publicize the investigation until Tuesday.

“Doesn’t Mexico have the capacity to perform autopsies?” one senator demanded, according to newspapers in Mexico City. “Doesn’t Mexico have the capacity to do excavations in a site where they may find cadavers?”

But Foreign Minister Rosario Green defended the operation, saying the lack of early information about the investigation simply reflected strategic concerns.

At La Campana, however, Freeh emphasized the cooperative nature of the investigation, repeatedly thanking and praising Madrazo.

“We will work as hard as we can, as long as we have to, and are committed to identifying any remains, including remains in the United States,” he said. “We don’t rule anything out with respect to this investigation.”