Suspect confesses over US mission attack in Mexico

Posted on Wednesday, March 31, 2010

A man held over a fatal attack on US consular staff in Mexico earlier this month has confessed to participating in the murders, Mexican officials say.

They say Ricardo Valles, an alleged member of the notorious Los Aztecas gang, told them he was a lookout for the drug trafficking gang.

He said the target of the attack in Ciudad Juarez was a US jail guard.

The guard and his wife, an employee of the US consulate were gunned down. A Mexican national was also killed.

Arthur Redelfs and his wife Lesley Enriquez, both US nationals, and Jorge Alberto Salcido, the Mexican husband of another consular employee, were shot dead in two separate incidents as they were leaving a birthday party in the border city on 13 March.

Simultaneous attacks

Mr Valles told investigators that a gang leader had ordered him to locate "the white sport utility vehicle" used by Mr Redelfs.

He said that had followed the car carrying the couple until gang members told him back off, after which the Americans were gunned down.

In a simultaneous killing, Mr Salcido, the Mexican husband of another US consular worker, was also shot. He was driving a similar white vehicle.

The motive of the killings remain unclear.

However, investigators believe that the shootings may be an act of revenge against Mr Redelfs, who worked in a prison across the border where many Los Aztecas gang members are held.

More than 2,500 people died last year in Ciudad Juarez, one of the focal points of Mexico's illegal drugs trade.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was in Mexico as part of a high-level US delegation last week, pledged increased support for Mexico in the fight against drug gangs.

She said more would be done to cut US demand for drugs and the flow of profits and guns into Mexico.