'We had a clear view'

More witnesses have come forward saying they saw armed men in fatigues push a blindfolded man off the Progreso International Bridge two weeks ago.

As originally reported last Sunday, five Winter Texans said that on Feb. 13, they saw a group of armed men in military fatigues escort a blindfolded man from the Mexican side of the bridge to the U.S. side and place him on the guardrail before pushing him off. Among the witnesses was a South Dakota family that took two photographs of the incident and gave them to the Valley Morning Star.

Now three more people say they saw the same incident.

Jim and Virginia Martin are former Winter Texans who have lived permanently in Port Isabel for six years. The couple, who are Washington, D.C., natives and retired Federal Aviation Administration employees, said they visit Nuevo Progreso, Mexico, every three or four weeks.

On Feb. 13 they were in their vehicle returning to Texas when they said they noticed a group of men in fatigues walking on the opposite side of the bridge with a blindfolded man.

Traffic returning to Texas, they said, was slow-moving. There was little to no traffic on the southbound lanes headed toward Mexico, they said.

“We had plenty of time to see what was going on,” said Jim Martin, 78.

His wife said they were at the middle of the bridge.

Jim Martin said he saw the men dressed in fatigues hit the man in their custody as the group walked toward the U.S. side of the bridge. A few of the men carried guns, he said.

“It disturbed us so much, what was happening,” he said.

The Martins said as their vehicle idled in traffic, the uniformed men put the man on the rail before pushing him off the bridge.

The couple was stunned.

“You’re in shock and you can’t believe what you saw,” said Virginia Martin, 79. “But if they want to do that, they should do it on their side.”

She said she saw the men throw an inner tube over the bridge after the man was pushed over.

“We had a clear view,” she said.

An earlier story reported that another witness saw a uniformed man throw an inner tube before the man was pushed. But that witness says the man with the inner tube did not appear to be part of the group of armed men. However, the man with the inner tube appeared to be a Mexican soldier, the other witness said.The couple said the windows to their car were rolled up and they didn’t hear anything after the man was pushed off the bridge.

“They were so blasé about it,” Virginia Martin said of the uniformed men.

Dorothy, an 80-year-old Winter Texan from Wisconsin who asked that her last name not be used, was riding in a car next to the Martins.

She said her car windows were rolled down when she saw the men in fatigues.

Dorothy said her car also was near the middle of the bridge, and she saw the man pushed off the rail.

“They looked pleased with themselves, that was my impression,” Dorothy said of the uniformed men.

Shortly after the men returned to Mexico, Dorothy said she heard two gunshots.

“I don’t know much about guns, but it was definitely a rifle-type shot,” Dorothy said.

Jim Martin said the men appeared to be laughing as they headed back to Mexico.

“It was an international crime scene,” he said. “I was aghast as to what was happening.”

About 20 minutes later, when they reached the U.S. port of entry, Jim Martin said he told a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent what he and his wife had seen.

“He said they knew about it and his supervisor was going to check it out,” he said of the agent.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Felix Garza said he had not been informed of other agents receiving reports.

“It’s something we should look into,” Garza said.

A fourth person has come forward to tell what happened to him shortly after the incident.

As the Martins returned home, a Donna man said he was going into Mexico to buy antibiotics.

The man, who asked that his name be withheld because of his dual U.S. and Mexican citizenship, said he was walking into Nuevo Progreso when what he took to be a CBP official wearing a bulletproof vest stopped him.

The Donna man said he had passed the turnstile and was about to reach the covered walkway when he met the official.

“He asked me, ‘Are you planning to go on across?’” the Donna man said.

The official told him there had been a shooting, the man said.

“I asked if they had apprehended the shooter, and he said, ‘No, it was the military,’” the Donna man said.

The official then told him that the military had taken a handcuffed man, shot him and threw him over the bridge, the Donna man said.

“He told me, ‘I’m just letting you know; you can walk over,’” the man said.

As he continued walking to Mexico, the man said he stopped at the midpoint of the bridge where the United States ends and Mexico begins. He waited for a couple also heading south and asked them if the official mentioned the incident to them, he said.

The couple said the agent had not told them anything, he said.

“I recommended that we walk together, but they didn’t want to,” the man said.

The couple walked back to the United States, he said.

The Donna man said he didn’t have any concerns that the official was making up the story.

“I had no reason to doubt it,” he said.

Garza said the official at the bridge could have been hired by the company that owns the bridge, and might not have been a CBP agent.

“People might confuse the uniform of a security guard, or someone with the bridge,” Garza said.

When asked why he decided to continue his trip despite the warning, the Donna man said he wasn’t scared.

“I just am cautious and aware of my surroundings,” he said.

The Donna man said he spent about an hour in Nuevo Progreso. On his way back, he said he didn’t notice whether there were any officials on the bridge.

He said he watched local television news programs and read his local paper for news about the shooting that the agent had mentioned. A relative told him later that the Valley Morning Star ran the story last week.

“I think the public needs to know. Let us decide because people shouldn’t be crossing without that knowledge,” he said.

“I am 62 years old and I made the decision to cross over. I can make that decision, but you need to tell me what’s going on.”