Mexican feds probe killing of crime activist

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office said Thursday it is launching a federal investigation into the killing of a Mormon anti-crime activist, calling it a high-impact crime that appears related to the arrest of a gang of gunmen.

The U.S. Embassy said the FBI has offered to assist Mexican authorities in the investigation. Both victims — anti-kidnapping leader Benjamin LeBaron and his neighbor Luis Widmar — held U.S. and Mexican citizenship.

The killers have been identified as members of “La Linea,” a gang that works for the Juarez drug cartel based in nearby city of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, said a state prosecutor involved in the investigation.

Chihuahua Attorney General Patricia Gonzalez called Tuesday’s killing of LeBaron and Widmar “a terrorist act … aimed at inhibiting citizens and Chihuahua residents who are willing to collaborate with the authorities.”

Earlier reports based on a message left at the crime scene suggested a lieutenant of the Sinaloa cartel as the possible mastermind of the killings. While they were once allies, the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels are now rivals.

LeBaron, 32, and Widmar, 29, were buried in their home community of Colonia LeBaron on Thursday in simple wooden coffins at a ceremony attended by Chihuahua Gov. Jose Reyes Baeza. The two men left behind 10 orphaned children.

Such killings are usually investigated by state authorities in Mexico, but the Attorney General’s office said it was taking over the case because it believes the killing was linked to the kidnapping of LeBaron’s brother and to the arrest of 25 men dressed in paramilitary gear in a nearby town.

The office said it had put together “a special team of prosecutors, federal agents and forensics experts to investigate the case,” and the army said it had sent 100 soldiers to the area to ensure the safety of the hamlet of Colonia LeBaron, Chihuahua.

More than a dozen Mexican anti-crime, community and union groups issued a statement Thursday calling for justice in the killing.

“The Chihuahua case is emblematic, because this is a community whose members have not only suffered attacks by criminal gangs, but have also been the victims of reprisals when they decided to speak out,” according to the statement.

The crime — described as the first retaliation killing of an anti-crime activist in Mexico — made a huge impact in Mexico, despite the fact that LeBaron was a dual-national U.S. citizen and belonged to a tiny and little-known group of Mormons who immigrated from the United States to settle in Mexico more than a half-century ago.

On Wednesday, Mexico’s Congress called for a minute of silence in honor of the two men’s memory.

The two were abducted from LeBaron’s house by a gang of armed men in military-style camouflage gear tossed into a truck and then shot in the head on a nearby road.

LeBaron helped lead the town’s approximately 2,000 inhabitants in protests against the May 2 kidnapping of LeBaron’s 19-year-old brother, Eric LeBaron. The residents refused to pay the $1 million ransom kidnappers requested and demonstrated in the Chihuahua state capital to demand justice.

Even after Eric was released unharmed a week later, the LeBaron people continued to lead marches demanding more law enforcement in the rural, isolated corner of Chihuahua state. They also set up a committee to report any suspicious activities in town to police, quickly becoming an example for other Chihuahua communities.

Both the army and police increased their presence in the town following Eric’s kidnapping, perhaps contributing to the arrest of 25 suspected hit men who had terrorized the nearby town of Nicolas Bravo.

LeBaron’s killers left a banner saying his slaying was revenge for those arrests.