MEXICO CITY -- Mexico's government said it considers a shooting at a crowded department store in El Paso, Texas, that left eight of its citizens dead an "act of terrorism" against Mexicans and hopes it will lead to changes in U.S. gun laws.
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard met Monday afternoon with local authorities in El Paso and said Mexico will participate in the investigations and trial there, as well as take legal action against those who sold the gun to the shooter.
"An investigation will be opened for terrorism, because that's what it was," Ebrard said at a news conference. "And the extradition request is not off the table."
Ebrard also met with families of the victims and the injured and promised to speed up the repatriation process for the bodies of the eight Mexican victims.
"We agree that it appears racism and white supremacy are serious problems in the United States," Ebrard said.
President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador previously said that Mexico will respect the debate that will unfold in the United States after the Saturday attack that killed a total of 22 people, but he believes the discussion could lead to change north of the border.
"There could be a change to their laws because it is stunning what is happening, unfortunate and very powerful," Lopez Obrador said. "I don't rule out that they could change their constitution and laws. These are new times; you have to always be adjusting the legal framework to the new reality."
Many in Mexico were reeling from revelations that the shooting appeared to have been aimed at Hispanics, and Mexicans in particular.
Tens of thousands of Mexicans cross the border legally each day from Ciudad Juarez to work and shop in the city of 680,000 full-time residents.
The Mexican victims were identified as Sara Esther Regalado of Ciudad Juarez; Adolfo Cerros Hernandez of Aguascalientes; Jorge Calvillo Garcia of Torreon, Coahuila; Elsa Mendoza de la Mora of Yepomera, Chihuahua; Gloria Irma Marquez of Ciudad Juarez; Maria Eugenia Legarreta of the city of Chihuahua; Ivan Filiberto Manzano of Ciudad Juarez; and Juan de Dios Velazquez Chairez of Zacatecas. Other victims may have also been of Mexican descent.
On Sunday, Lopez Obrador chose his words carefully when speaking of the shooting.
"In spite of the pain, the outrage" that Mexicans are feeling, he said, the U.S. is headed toward elections and Mexico doesn't want to interfere in the "internal affairs" of other countries.
Information for this article was contributed by Christopher Sherman of The Associated Press.
A Section on 08/06/2019