POLITICIANS ANGLING TO MAKE HAY OF ZAPATA TRAGEDY?

By Juan Montoya
The human remains of ICE Special Agent Jaime Zapata killed Feb. 16 after he and fellow ICE Special Agent Victor Avila were attacked by members of the Zetas criminal organization while traveling along Highway 57 in the San Luis Potosi State aren't even cold yet and already rumors are surfacing that some local politicians will try to make political points by renaming International Boulevard in his honor.
Prominent in the talk in local coffee houses is that none other than suspended ICE agent and city commissioner candidate for re-election Charlie Atkinson is making noises that he will spearhead the effort at city hall to change the name of the city's main thoroughfare and link with Mexico.
He might have to run the 100-yard dash to beat out the rest of the pack, since election day for city commissioners, May 14, is just around the corner.
Then, predictably, there are the father and son legislative tag team Eddie Lucio Jr. and Lucio III who are said to be working out on something that they can get credit for in the next round of elections.
In a classic case of one-upmanship, incumbent Mayor Pat Ahumada was interviewed during a ceremony at the Events Center demanding that U.S. agents working in Mexico be allowed to carry firearms for personal protection.
He also declared that he would be in favor of sending U.S. military personnel to Mexico to "quiet down" the situation.
Besides the crass positioning to make political points at the expense of the pain of the Zapata family and the grieving community, there are serious questions arising the events that led to the overkill on that Zeta-infested road between San Luis and Mexico City.
Why were two unarmed agents of the ICE allowed to travel unprotected by U.S. officials and the host government through an area known to be occupied by these murderous groups?
Why did they travel in a vehicle that was easily identified as being a SUV that was occupied by U.S. diplomatic personnel?
Why on earth is our government putting people in harm's way and not providing them the wherewithal to assure their safety?
There was already some precedent. Remember when consular personnel in Reynosa were attacked and their vehicle chased to the international bridge, allegedly by cartel members angry at the U.S. government?
Or the grenade attacks on the U.S. Consul building there? Or bullets flying on the TSC-UTB campus from firefights across the Rio Grande?
And just recently, a missionary couple was attacked and a woman killed when drug cartel gunmen attacked them reportedly while trying to steal their SUV.
With firebrands like Ahumada calling for military intervention into the failed Mexican state, is is not too far off before we have the hawkish Texas delegation calling for an invasion of northern Mexico?
If you remember, the first time the U.S. invaded northern Mexico in 1846 we walked away from there with half the country. It is doubtful that any Mexican political party or politician will survive supporting that idea, Yet, it makes for good political rhetoric, especially before a local election.
In the heat of the moment, there will probably be a rush to use the anger and pain of the Zapata family to support public acts that will result in us renaming streets and other public facilities in this young man's name.
But reading the comments that his family has expressed, it is clear that young Victor liked what he was doing and would have been the last person to seek the label of hero for following his professional dream.
Instead of making political points with his tragic death, we should be emboldened and question the authorities that placed him and his fellow officers in the precarious position that resulted in his untimely death in hopes that such a situation can be avoided in the future and another young man die before his time.