Mexican officials call for justice in migrant's killing on Arizona ranch

The recent killing of a migrant on a rancher’s property near Nogales, Arizona, never should have happened, and there should be consequences and justice, Mexican officials said at a news conference they held Friday.

Mexican national Gabriel Cuen Buitimea, 48, was shot dead on Jan. 30. Local rancher George Alan Kelly is charged with second-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in the case.

Kelly, 74, was arrested after sheriff’s deputies found Cuen’s body on the rancher’s property, close to the U.S.-Mexico border. Kelly has pleaded not guilty and was released on a $1 million cash bond on Feb. 22.

Vanessa Calva Ruiz, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, summarized the case during Friday’s news conference in Nogales, Arizona. She said Cuen was killed by bullets from an AK-47, the perpetrator shot his weapon at least eight times, and other victims in the case told authorities the shots continued after Cuen was hit.

Prosecutors say two other migrants, who were with a group on Kelly’s land when Cuen was killed, are also victims in the case. One of them testified during a Feb. 24 court hearing.

Cuen was unarmed and running from the gunfire when he was shot in the back, Calva said, speaking in Spanish.

“The defendant George Kelly opened fire on the group that Mr. Cuen was a part of. Not one person was armed. There was not an element of imminent danger. And proof of this is that the perpetrator called migration officials on different occasions and not to 911,” she said.

Calva was speaking of the prosecution’s position in the case, which is that Kelly shot an unarmed man in the back in an unprovoked attack as he ran for his life with no warning, and that he was with a group of about eight migrants.

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The defense says Kelly was approached by armed men who were on his property and he only fired a warning shot over their heads.

Calva also brought up a self-published book authored by Kelly that has been described as “a contemporary novel which brings the Mexican Border/Drug conflict into the 21st century.”

“We know that the defendant advocates political actions that exalt vigilante practices,” she said. “He has a published book that is still for sale that reflects this type of ideology and advocates that people take justice into their own hands.”

Mexican officials are providing advice and support to Cuen’s family. They said they couldn’t share publicly specific details on the help they were giving the family other than to say in general situations where someone is the victim of a violent crime, they can explain the legal process of criminal proceedings as well as any legal alternatives available to the family.

Santa Cruz County had Cuen’s remains sent to his family in Nogales, Sonora. The family is being provided with some compensation, an amount that is not being made public, and mental health services, said Marcos Moreno Báez, the consulate general of Mexico in Nogales, at Friday’s news conference.

A judge ruled on Feb. 24 that the state established probable cause or adequate evidence against Kelly to proceed to trial in Santa Cruz County Superior Court. An arraignment hearing is scheduled for March 6.