Posted on 07/05/2004 10:49:21 AM PDT by Robert Lomax
SAN LUIS DE LA PAZ, Mexico - Mexican soldiers carrying automatic weapons interrupted the Independence Day funeral of a U.S. Marine and demanded that the Marine honor guard give up ceremonial replicas of rifles they carried. The move drew an angry reaction from the U.S. Ambassador.
Hundreds of friends and relatives packed a small cemetery for the funeral on Sunday of 22-year-old Juan Lopez, who was born in this sun-scorched farming town, immigrated to Dalton, Ga., as a teenager and became a Marine.
He was killed in an ambush in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, on June 21.
Maj. Curt Gwilliam presented an American flag to Lopez's widow, Sandra Torres, who clutched a bouquet of yellow and white flowers while tears streamed down her face.
While the funeral demonstrated the close human ties of Mexico and the United States, problems began moments after the start.
Four U.S. Marines marched solemnly to the grave carrying an American flag and the colors of the Marine Corps. Two of the men had rifles that looked real, but could not be fired, strapped to their backs.
Four Mexican soldiers blocked their path, asking the four Marines and six others who had served as pallbearers to return to the car that had brought them to the funeral. Several minutes of discussions by soldiers from both countries continued until a trumpet player began a rendition of taps and the funeral proceeded, despite the objections of the Mexican troops.
When the ceremony was complete, the Marines returned to a U.S. Embassy vehicle and waited. Fourteen Mexican soldiers arrived to guard the premises. About 40 minutes later, the Mexican soldiers allowed the van to leave.
"I'm outraged that this would take away from the ceremony honoring U.S. Marine Juan Lopez Rangel, whose family requested he be buried in his town of birth with full military honors," U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza said in a statement.
Mexico has a deep suspicion of foreign military forces in its territory. The Marine Hymn's "Halls of Montezuma" refers to the 1847 U.S. capture of Mexico City.
The Mexican Defense Department banned plans for a 21-gun salute by Marines because Mexico's Constitution bans foreign soldiers from carrying firearms here.
Mexican soldiers at the funeral refused to comment, but U.S. Embassy spokesman Jim Dickmeyer said they likely saw the rifle replicas and mistakenly thought the Marines were planning to fire a salute anyway.
"These are ceremonial weapons," Dickmeyer said. "We were told not to bring M-16s, we didn't bring M-16s. We were told not to fire in the air, we didn't fire in the air."
Lopez's cousin, Octavio Lopez, called the interruption "a big mistake."
"If carrying these rifles was part of the ceremony, a ceremony the family wanted, how could it have been anything but positive?" he asked.
When U.S. Marines loaded Lopez's gray coffin onto a hearse earlier in the afternoon, a swell of local residents poured through the street and marched with the Lopez family past shabby brick homes.
A mariachi band dressed in green sang, "Goodbye for ever, goodbye." The music never stopped during a somber 45-minute march across town.
As church services began, about 300 people who could not fit inside listened over loudspeakers and sang along.
An hour later, several hundred people marched about a half mile to the ceremony to watch as Lopez's gray coffin was lowered into the ground.
Some of those who marched in Lopez's honor voiced opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
Lopez met his wife in Dalton and the couple married in December. Earlier in the day, Oscar E. Lujan, attache for U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services at the embassy in Mexico City,
God Bless Juan Lopez Rangel
So9
So what will happen? Nada.
Oh come one... haven't you ever had a sharp rebuke from an ambassodor? They sting like heck!
Wow, there is a great difference in public policy between our countries regarding flags and guns and soldiers. For example gang fighters are carrying guns and firing them from vehicles carrying Mexican flags every day on the streets of Los Angeles. The city council has made it illegal to even question these people their country of allegiance, and the directors of immigration in DC are now saying just last week is also illegal for the federal immigration stop and question them.
They're going to push and push and push....and then realize what its like to P.O. the Americans.
If selfish sheeple would stop vacationing in MX, the $ loss would end this crap overnight.
I will never VC in Mexico or any other foreign country. I probably have no impact, but at least I sleep at night.
Was Mexico part of the coalition in Iraq? No. Are millions of Mexican's breaking our laws and ignoring our sovereignty and costing the American tax payer billions? Yes. President Bush says Mexico is our good friend.
bttt
By that time, there will be too many Mexicans in America (and too little Americans) for Americans to do anything, even if they wanted to. Which they won't.
Too bad Juan wasn't buried in the land of the free he died defending. RIP Juan.
Marine Corps Bump!
Semper Fi!
Thanks Marine!
Seems like Dalton would be the best of both worlds. Still belongs to the US in name but you'd never guess it going there. Signs are in Spanish, gorcery stores cater to Mexicans, you have to be willing to work for less than a Mexican if you want a job. That said, I'll be taking my own carcass to the military soon so it's moot.
Without exception....the more I hear about our neighbors to the south, the less I like them.
It seems like a giant stinking cesspool of corruption just waiting for another revolution. Too bad the natives have a "pressure relief valve" to the north.
Re: "Mexico has a deep suspicion of foreign military forces in its territory. The Marine Hymn's "Halls of Montezuma" refers to the 1847 U.S. capture of Mexico City."
I'm afraid it is more likely they were wanting a bribe.
When My church was looking for vestments for the Priest I found a convent that make them in Mexico. They told me they had to have the money sent to a U.S. Address and could not take returns because the custom officials and the postal workers stole left and right. If an item is returned (even though it was made in Mexico) they would get charged tariffs. It seems everyone in government takes bribes and steals.
It gives me pause for supporting NAFTA.
It interesting that you refer to the "presure release valve"! We are indeed the "presure release valve" for the whole world.
Are immigration laws have been tailored to insure that our nation be the world's "presure release valve".
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