Gunwalker: Family of Slain Federal Agent Demands Answers
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila were ambushed by eight cartel members in Mexico in February. Avila survived, Zapata did not.
One of the guns used in the murder was a Romanian-made semi-automatic AK-pattern pistol called the “Draco,” which is basically an AK-pattern rifle without a shoulder stock and featuring a much shorter barrel. It was traced back to a gun shop in the United States.
It has been almost six months since his murder, and Jaime Zapata’s family wants answers:
Five months after U.S. immigration agent Jaime Zapata was shot to death by a Mexican drug cartel, his family is demanding to know whether the weapons were purchased in the United States and smuggled into Mexico under the now-defunct Fast and Furious operation.
The family complains that U.S. authorities in Washington and Texas have refused to answer crucial questions about the Feb. 15 ambush on a four-lane highway in northern Mexico.
“What happened with Jaime needs to come out,” the family’s lawyer, Raymond L. Thomas of McAllen, Texas, said in a telephone interview Sunday. “And the likelihood that these were Fast and Furious guns is certainly plausible.”
The ambush of Zapata and Avila has long been associated with the multi-agency aberration known as “Operation Fast and Furious.” But the Draco pistol used in Zapata’s murder was not part of Operation Fast and Furious, which took place in what the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has designated the Phoenix Field Operations area, which encompasses all of Arizona and New Mexico. The Draco was instead just one of many firearms obtained for the cartels by a trio of gunrunners in the Dallas Field Operations area, from a parallel operation that looks suspiciously like Operation Fast and Furious.
A third operation named “Operation Castaway” is also coming to the attention of congressional investigators, and a pattern of weapons recovered from the Houston area in southern and central Mexico suggests that a fourth “watch and do nothing” operation existed.
Just how many “Gunwalker” operations did the ATF, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Agency, Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, the Internal Revenue Service, and the State Department collude in?
Was Operation Fast and Furious in Phoenix an isolated incident as the Obama administration and their unserious allies in the mainstream media would like us to believe? Or is it more likely that the federal agencies that are known to have come together for this operation participated in a number of operations in all border states where gun smuggling has been alleged, including the two suspected operations in Texas and Operation Castaway?
Should investigators be looking for the presence of similar multi-agency operations in the Los Angeles, Denver, Miami, and New Orleans field areas?
We are nowhere near being able to answer these questions, because the federal agencies involved are attempting to evade questions from the family members of dead law enforcement agents and congressional investigators alike.
they will never get an answer from this regime. maybe when we get a President they will get an answer. hopefully at that time the people behind this CRIMENAL act will be punished to the fullest extent of the law and given the MAXIMUM penalty allowed by law. they should be required to pay all cost and dammages involved, I am sick and tired of seeing the tax payers soaked for some IDIOTS wrongdoing because he she is a politician or a high ranking beuracrat, LET THE SLIMEBALLS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SCREWUP PAY FOR IT,
The only “screw-ups” were the individuals who were responsible for allowing the corruption to be exposed.
The criminal types who put thing together, were not screw-ups and idiots: they were willing agents of the malevolent spirit—that calculating evil which seeks confusion and destruction in any part or in all of mankind, . . .
THANK YOU, PhillipGaley! I am so sick of people chalking all this up to “incompetence.” Were the ten Muslims who took down the World Trade Center just “incompetent” at flying airplanes? Good grief.
On the radio today, I heard a soundbite of Congressman Ted Poe speaking out against Gunwalker and demanding answers — but when he kept saying “reckless” and “incompetent,” I nearly punched the radio!
It is an insult to the memory of the hundreds (yes, hundreds) of people who have been killed with the collusion of the U.S. Dept. of Justice (sic) to downgrade sheer malevolence to mere incompetence. The responsible parties are ACCESSORIES TO MURDER — and I hope Mexico will put them on trial if our own government refuses to.
Lenin,Stalin Hitler,the woman who shot at President Ford all got their start as Government Secret Agents. That asside, when there are so many appartent “off” programs of gun smmugling is it not possible that we are seeing agency fund raising?
The next of kin of the slain federal agents do deserve some answers from the Obama regime. However, the insipid Republicans in Congress will never push for full disclosure from Obama and Holder. The Republicans are scared of being called “racist” if they deign to push this legitimate issue too far.
Honestly, I think the Zapata family should go cynical and scream racism themselves. They’re Hispanic. They could get their cause kickstarted, especially if Holder picks a white guy in the DoJ to take the fall, especially if it’s a Bush leftover.
YES, . . .
I think you have a good idea. There is no way that the criminal enterprise would ever pay attention to a dead white man, but those of color have more clout. In addition, I think that this family should call this what it is: this agent was murdered by his own government while that government was committing, in my opinion, treasonous acts against its own citizens. Obama has blood on his hands just as Holder and the rest of these thugs do. The American people should be howling in rage over this unthinkable act.
All communications from eight FBI and six DEA agents are being sought……hmmmm. How many operations were being run and how many agents involved? I am not making a connection between the running of these operations and the budget for them. 37 million is alot of money…if I have that number right. It doesnt take very many guys or very much money to stick your thumb up your ass and watch someone commit a crime and then walk away.
So where did all the money go? ( I am betting it was used to purchase weapons)
Yes, 37 million was used to make the purchases.
Not only did the Government supply the funds for this operation, but it also supplied the “informants” to MAKE these purchases…purchases that otherwise would NEVER have occurred…
Because:
1) No “self respecting” Narco-Terrorist is ever going to PAY RETAIL for a civilian SEMI-AUTO….
Then :
2) Try to cross the border with a few at a time in the trunk of a CAR….
When:
3) Thousands of real-deal FULL-AUTO’S are available at a fraction of the cost, by the truckload all over central/south America, delivered right where you need them, without EVER having to leave Mexico.
Like most things, Government Workers simply do not comprehend how the “real world” operates. They are useless unskilled people, with useless, make-work jobs. When challenged to compete, they create overly complex, horribly inefficient Rube Goldberg contraptions that eventually collapse under their own weight.
You want to get guns to Criminals?
You spent $37 million, all you got is 150 friendly K.I.A.’s?
And you got CAUGHT?
WTF, a Government Operation if there ever was one.
I, too, wondered why the drug cartels bought retail. The world is awash in new and used AK-47s. It’s not top of the assualt rifle line, but close enough and very durable. And I’m sure the Russians would be more than happy to make a deal.
For the very cheap buyer, go with the SKS from the PRC. With their new-found capitalism, the ChiComs would probably make a deal, too.
Neither Russia nor the PRC were shy about supplying North Viet Nam with arms and munitions during the Viet Nam War; they could crank up the old system and flood Northern Mexico with all the firepower they could ask for, underselling the US Government’s subsidiary, the ATF and its CEO, Eric Holder.
“Where is the media to bestow them with absolute moral authority and to champion their cause?”
Well they are in the tank for the Obama administration, of course. Do you really think the main stream media would be acting the same way about this if a Republican, especially George W. Bush, were in the White House? The Bush administration was attacked relentlessly by the main stream media about firing some US attorneys, something the President actually had the right to do. Here we have a botched Federal Program that was probably sanctioned by the Attorney General that actually put weapons in the hands of Mexican drug bandits and it resulted in the deaths of not only a lot of Mexicans, but an American as well. And yet you don’t hear anything about this in the main stream media, or very little. Their bias knows no bounds. And then they wonder why few people are listing to the main stream media anymore.
“Well they are in the tank for the Obama administration, of course. Do you really think the main stream media would be acting the same way about this if a Republican, especially George W. Bush, were in the White House?”
They did for Bush on that border agent who shot a guy and was thrown into prison on B.S. for the purposes of the Texas plutocrats message to Border Patrol to not be so efficient in stemming the tide of cheap labor. But this was an exception because support of border agents would be tacit approval of racism and the right to cheap nannies from a liberal p.o.v.
interesting how many people were/are involved in this escapade.
question:
who were the heads that decided this?
what was the purpose of this escapade?
who decided that the tax payer would pay for this?
how was this program introduced to all involved for them to go along with it and follow orders?
do we employ mercenaries with no allegiance to the US?
what kind of people does the government employ that will willingly look the other way?
just asking. it seems the real problem is employing ruthless people that definitely don’t have the allegiance to our country, AMERICA!
With that many separate agencies involved, this had to be coordinated in the Oval office. Treasury, State, DHS and AG all have their own agendas. To get them working together like this takes higher level coordination. And that’s POTUS.
This is worse than Watergate and Iran/contra combined, and Obama is up to his eyeballs in it.
Anyone who wants to help these families get their answers and also uncover the truth about this whole sordid affair should contact Rep. Issa’s office and give him your message of support in his efforts. I’m sure he will appreciate knowing that we are behind him and will help if we can. Here is the contact page address for his web site:
http://issa.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=597&Itemid=73
As a Sheriff’s Office Detective, I worked closely(at times)with the ATF,FBI and others in the Federal Gov’t. I know personally that those agencies don’t do anything unless the Justice Dept has signed off on it. I heard the comment from one of the investigators that they can’t even pass gas w/o permission from Washington. Eric Holder had to have known about this whole scheme from the very first planning stages period!!!
Sir, I hope in the honor of these two fellow Federal Officers, you and all other Fed Law enforcement agencies will nail these SOB’s any way you can, for the future safely for you, and your fellow enforcers.
This corruption and deceit must be stopped and know that thousands of us, stand with you.
Carol,
you left out the part that says:
“…or else we will stand against you, with arms”
The media won’t be asking any further questions about the govt running guns to Mexico – they’ve got bigger things to worry about. The Rupert Murdoch hacking scandal is worth far more to the propagandists than a few LEO’s.
Its called a “False Flag” operation and has been used many, many time by other government regimes in the past, regimes that the United States used to fight against but now try to emulate. If this gun running leads to our own government’s elected officials or those that have been put in positions of trust our very own law enforcement agencies we have a bigger problem than gunrunning.
The totalitarians believe that they will write the books of history, therefore they don’t care about anything.
We must certainly support the families of the LEOs killed by the narcos armed by the ATF, and appreciate the efforts of the GOP congressmen to dig the truth out.
But, most importantly, we must keep building a collective memory of the crimes of this (wannabe) totalitarian regime.
I hope that the bloggers who are working on this case will soon publish books about it.
And we can all talk with our friends, relatives, neighbors.
Re-establish a common sense, roll-back the propaganda and ignorance.
“Where is the media to bestow them with absolute moral authority and to champion their cause?”
It’s right here. That “absolute moral authority” is the consensus among American families that we can and will hold our government accountable for the lives of our children that it expends, regardless of how good or justified the cause. We can and we do force our government to say what happened to our soldiers in wartime, much less a federal agent on peacetime duty.
The media — that’s you. Or us. You keep on this story, and we will write our Representatives and Senators. This is going to be tougher than forcing the truth out of Weiner, but it can and should be done.
I suspect this goes much further than anyone realizes. Early last year we had a new gun shop open in our area. They dealt with primarily the same weapons being discussed here to include 50 Cal. sniper weapons. Nothing much in the way of hunting supplies, just AK-47 variants and other semi auto rifles, assorted high power hand guns, and large capacity magazines and drums. I avoided the place because I suspected it was a sting of some sort, after this story broke I am glad I stayed away.
These unfortunate families need to be asking WHY Obama ordered Gunrunner to take place:
Obama Orders Launched Fast and Furious
http://patriotsunion.ning.com/video/obama-orders-launched-fast-and?commentId=6376701%3AComment%3A30542&xg_source=msg_com_video
The above video is originally from C-SPAN 2, March 24, 2009.
Presidential Immunity does not cover illegal presidents.
The amoral, worthless, dickless,scumbag POS MSM and ball-less Congress, have given this America hating commie, immunity from ANY past-present-future treasonious activity.
Correct, we just need to take Congress down before the illegal POTUS.
All US citizens need to know why the DOJ allowed weapons to enter Mexico. Why isn’t Holder being held accountable? Why isn’t Obama being asked about this travesty?
tex-You and I both know that answer-they are anti-american communists. So are many in the so-called Media. They will NEVER (Eg, Guitner or Rangel) hold a far leftist accountable for there actions. its getting time for we the people ourselves to do so.
This family has as much or more right to protest as the families of the Scotland plane crash or the 8/11 victims. After all, the sale of the guns used in the killing was promoted by the American government. Anyone promoting the plan should be held accountable. No one nor any office should be exempt from the investigation. Perjury should be heavily penalized.
I think what Maureen actually MEANT to say was that SHE has absolute moral authority. You must have read something into it.
There are a number of possible reasons that O might want to send arms into Mexico. It seems a bit far fetched that he would do that only for the purpose promoting gun control in the US. It’s like adding 8 and 8 together and coming up with only 4. Arming Hezbollah in Mexico? Destabilizing Mexico and arming a leftist insurgency? Through traffic to pro-Zelaya forces in Honduras? Even making big bucks for his campaign is not too far fetched. But whatever it is, i’ll bet there is something more we don’t know about. The investigation has a long way to go yet, so hold on to your hats.
Bigfoot,
You cant “make bucks” when you bought the guns at RETAIL PRICES….
You have to steal them in quantity, or supply “used wholesale” at LESS than retail prices, to “make any bucks” on the next transaction.
Middle men, and criminals, dont pay RETAIL
Far fetched?
Read Marx. If that’s too heavy for you, read Ailinsky.
It is starting to look like “Operation Fast and Furious” was an illegal, Obama administration sponsored policy initiative / plot to: – Supply thousands U.S. purchased guns to violent Mexican / Honduran criminals. – Who would then use them to murder as many innocent people as possible (U.S. law enforcement agents x 2 , Mexicans x a few hundred and counting) – So It would be reported by the outraged liberal MSM U.S. media, – And used as a justification for attacks on American gun ownership and the 2nd Amendment / U.S. Constitution. This is so wrong on so many different levels that it makes my head hurt.
I am very saddened that this story (Fast and furious) gets so little profile, while there is this feeding frenzy (8000+ stories) around the Rupert Murdoch incident. He’s just a private individual who screwed up — no one died. Yet the media choose to hide a story about corrupt, incompetent government officials. It is mind boggling.
Why isn’t a special prosecutor demanding answers?
Think about it, the commie mooselimb in the white house wanted a “civilian security force” better armed than our own military. So whos getting these guns? the Mexican drug cartel(La Raza anyone?) MS13(La Raza again) Houston, Texas-home of the largest branch of the New Black Panther party. I can see a pattern here, of allowing sale of high end weapons to be used against American citizens, as well as to establish the narrative that our “lax” gun laws are why these weapoms are ending up in the wrong hands. After all, didnt Hilldebeast and the president of Mexico make some absurd claim that 90% of the violence along the border was with American made guns? Last I looked, AK 47s were not American.
“waiting only kills more innocent people.”
And since when did THAT ever concern the crooks in Washington?