By Adriana M. Chavez
El Paso Times
EL PASO, Texas — For the family of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Luis Aguilar Jr., who was killed last year near Yuma, Ariz., the arrest of a man suspected of killing him comes as happy news.
But the man’s arrest doesn’t end the grief or bring closure for his family.
On Wednesday, Mexican federal agents arrested Jesus Navarro Montes, 22, near Zihuatenejo, a Mexican resort town, in an operation coordinated with the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service, the FBI said. The U.S. government is seeking his extradition on drug charges.
FBI agents in San Diego want to question Navarro, a Mexican citizen, about Aguilar’s death in January 2008 near southeastern California’s Imperial Sand Dunes, where marijuana smugglers have long mixed in with recreational dune riders.
Aguilar, an El Paso native, was killed while trying to lay spike strips to stop the drug-filled vehicle from returning to Mexico.
Mexican authorities arrested and charged Navarro with immigrant smuggling soon after Aguilar’s death, but released him in June, prompting outrage from the U.S government. Mexican authorities said the U.S. didn’t seek Navarro’s extradition until a week after he was freed.
Aguilar’s father, Luis Aguilar Sr., said his family was “real happy” about Navarro’s arrest, but wouldn’t be satisfied until Navarro was in a U.S. courtroom.
“We’re not going to be elated really until he is on U.S. territory. I’ll be satisfied then, and then it’s up to the justice system to see what they do with him,” Luis Aguilar Sr. said.
Luis Aguilar Sr. remembers his son as a loving, respectful family man.
“He was full of life. He loved his kids and he loved his job,” he said. “He was a good boy, a good boy.”
Darrell Foxworth, an FBI spokesman, said he didn’t know any circumstances of Navarro’s capture and would not say whether a murder charge would be added after his extradition. Mexico still refuses to extradite anyone who might face the death penalty.
The FBI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection offered a reward up to $350,000 for information leading to Navarro’s arrest.
Copyright 2009 El Paso Times