Dem Texas lawmakers support Mexican efforts to find missing man

Democratic lawmakers from southern Texas are confident that Mexican and
U.S. officials are doing everything necessary to find the body of a
missing American tourist who was reportedly shot in Mexico two weeks ago, though the state’s governor wants pressure kept on our southern neighbor.

The expressed support from Reps. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) and Rubén
Hinojosa (D-Texas) comes as Mexican officials temporarily halted their
search for the American late last week after the decapitated head of a
Mexican police investigator was found in a suitcase.

The search for the missing American, David Hartley, is expected to
begin again in several days after Mexican officials reassess the
tactics of their investigation.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) and
Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) have pushed President Obama and Secretary of
State Hillary Rodham Clinton to do more to find the man, who was reportedly
shot while Jet-Skiing with his wife on the Mexican side of a lake that
spans the border. Neither Hartley’s body nor his Jet Ski have been
found. 

A spokeswoman for Perry told The Hill that the governor was surprised Mexican authorities suspended the search for Hartley’s body in and
around the lake but that he was hopeful the investigation would be
successful.

“Gov. Perry expects that the government of Mexico would only
take this action once they’d exhausted all their efforts to recover Mr. Hartley’s
body in and around Falcon Lake,” said Katherine Cesinger, a spokeswoman for Gov.
Perry. “However, Gov. Perry also expects the government
of Mexico to continue this investigation to identify all involved in this
horrific killing of a U.S. citizen and bring them to justice. We hope and
pray through this investigation that Mr. Hartley’s body will be recovered
and returned to his family.”

Clinton has defended the U.S. response to the shooting, saying the federal government is doing everything possible to assist the
Mexican authorities with their investigation.

Citing the $600
million border security initiative that Obama signed in August, Cuellar
told The Hill on Friday the U.S. was doing a good job with the
case and chalked Perry’s general comments about the case — which have included giving President Felipe Calderon 48 hours earlier in the month to return the body — up to the election campaign that he
is engaged in against Democrat Bill White.

“We’ve put $600 million for border security, we’ve doubled the
border patrol and lots of other actions, but even when the facts are
there, during this time of the year, during election season, people will
say certain things,” said Cuellar. “That’s part of the nature, and we
just have to deal with it.”

The
shooting occurred several miles into Mexico, which limits the U.S.
involvement in the investigation, but Hinojosa said he remains positive
that Mexican officials are doing everything in their power to solve the
Hartley case.

“The recent violent murder of one of the Mexican investigators has
no doubt caused Mexican law enforcement officials to re-examine their
method of pursuing Mr. Hartley’s case,” said Hinojosa in a statement to
The Hill. “However, we remain confident that the Mexican government
will continue to do its best in solving this horrible crime.”

Cuellar said he believes “enforcers” for the drug cartels shot
Hartley because he had crossed into an area that they closely patrol
and to which they lay claim. Mexican officials have been unable to find Hartley’s
body and the Jet Ski, he said, most likely because the cartels smuggled
the Jet Ski away from the area and disposed of the American’s body, as
they have been known to do in previous instances of violent crime.