http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/0704/05mexicomarine.html

Tension clouds Marine's tearful Mexico funeral

By SUSAN FERRISS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/04/04

SAN LUIS DE LA PAZ, Mexico — Family and friends of a U.S. Marine killed in Iraq gave an anguished, proud farewell in this rural Mexican town Sunday, but the graveside funeral grew tense when Mexican soldiers suddenly appeared and confronted U.S. Marines.

At the request of the family of Lance Cpl. Juan Lopez, 22, who came to Dalton, Ga., when he was 15, Marines who were with Lopez in Iraq and at Camp Pendleton, Calif., served as pallbearers and as a color guard, and played taps.

Susana Gonzalez /SPECIAL (ENLARGE)
Mexican-born Lance Cpl. Juan Lopez, 22, of Dalton died in combat on June 21.
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After the flag on Lopez's coffin was folded and presented to his parents and widow, the Marines stood at attention as the color guard prepared to march with Marine and American flags and two ceremonial rifles.

Before they could begin, a group of 14 Mexican soldiers carrying automatic weapons appeared, and a captain demanded to see permits. Mexico's military already had denied permits for the Marines to bring in real guns to fire a salute, which U.S. Embassy spokesman Jim Dickmeyer said was "understood and accepted."

Ceremonial rifles, which are toys, are often used in Mexico City at embassy-sponsored Marine events. The Mexican soldiers allowed the color guard to perform an abbreviated ceremony, but then the Marines were not allowed to leave the cemetery for 40 minutes while superiors were contacted in Mexico City.

As a result of the calls, "this captain was told to stand down" and let the Marines go without confiscating the rifles, Dickmeyer said.

As the cars of the Marines and other U.S. military personnel rolled out, some townsfolk at the funeral applauded and blew kisses.

The funeral marked the first time a Mexican-born Marine killed in Iraq has been buried in Mexico, and planning for the funeral was bureaucratic and difficult.

"This soldier had two nationalities. What the Mexican soldiers did was terrible," said Digna Alvarez.

Lopez's death in combat June 21 touched a raw nerve in this municipality in central Guanajuato state, where as many as 40 percent to 50 percent of the people have emigrated to the United States and where cultural ties and financial dependence on migrant dollars run deep.

Lopez received U.S. citizenship posthumously, like other immigrant soldiers who have died.

His father and brothers, who have lived in the Dalton area for years, said the youngest son in the family loved Mexico and his adopted home, where he had always been a legal resident and graduated from high school.

Lopez's mother and most of his four sisters prefer to live in San Luis de la Paz.

"He said he was fighting for the security of the world," said Lopez's brother Salvador.

"I hope the war ends well. . . . I have lost a brother, and I don't want his death to be in vain," said Enrique Lopez, 37, who has lived in Georgia since the 1980s.

He, his parents and much of the family did not wholly endorse Lopez's decision to join the Marines in 2000, but respected his wishes.

While many in San Luis de la Paz seem to fervently oppose the Iraq war, thousands of people in the town of about 60,000 largely put aside their opposition, filled the streets and packed into the ornate San Luis Rey Church for Lopez's funeral.

"Every person who is coming through that door now lives from U.S. dollars," said Martin Rivera, 37.

"The U.S. is what gives us food. The Mexican government doesn't care about us. Some would say [Lopez] was a traitor. Not me. To me he was a hero."

And the Lord spake forth unto the heavens and said, "LET THERE BE AIRBORNE."
The earth did tremble and quake and the waters did rise up and the clouds did part and there came forth a multitude of parachutes that filled the sky.
God looked down and saw this was good.  And they were good;
They were AIRBORNE!

Another Article on the Topic.

Godspeed Marine

Mexican soldiers block U.S. Marine's funeral
Associated Press
July 5, 2004 FUNERAL0706

SAN LUIS DE LA PAZ, Mexico -- Mexican soldiers carrying automatic weapons interrupted the Independence Day funeral of a U.S. Marine and demanded that the Marine honor guard give up ceremonial replicas of rifles they carried. The move drew an angry reaction from the U.S. Ambassador.

Hundreds of friends and relatives packed a small cemetery for the funeral on Sunday of 22-year-old Juan Lopez, who was born in this sun-scorched farming town, immigrated to Dalton, Ga., as a teenager and became a Marine.

He was killed in an ambush in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, on June 21.

Maj. Curt Gwilliam presented an American flag to Lopez's widow, Sandra Torres, who clutched a bouquet of yellow and white flowers while tears streamed down her face.

While the funeral demonstrated the close human ties of Mexico and the United States, problems began moments after the start.

Four U.S. Marines marched solemnly to the grave carrying an American flag and the colors of the Marine Corps. Two of the men had rifles that looked real, but could not be fired, strapped to their backs.

Four Mexican soldiers blocked their path, asking the four Marines and six others who had served as pallbearers to return to the car that had brought them to the funeral. Several minutes of discussions by soldiers from both countries continued until a trumpet player began a rendition of taps and the funeral proceeded, despite the objections of the Mexican troops.

When the ceremony was complete, the Marines returned to a U.S. Embassy vehicle and waited. Fourteen Mexican soldiers arrived to guard the premises. About 40 minutes later, the Mexican soldiers allowed the van to leave.

``I'm outraged that this would take away from the ceremony honoring U.S. Marine Juan Lopez Rangel, whose family requested he be buried in his town of birth with full military honors,'' U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza said in a statement.

Mexico has a deep suspicion of foreign military forces in its territory. The Marine Hymn's ``Halls of Montezuma'' refers to the 1847 U.S. capture of Mexico City.

The Mexican Defense Department banned plans for a 21-gun salute by Marines because Mexico's Constitution bans foreign soldiers from carrying firearms here.

Mexican soldiers at the funeral refused to comment, but U.S. Embassy spokesman Jim Dickmeyer said they likely saw the rifle replicas and mistakenly thought the Marines were planning to fire a salute anyway.

``These are ceremonial weapons,'' Dickmeyer said. ``We were told not to bring M-16s, we didn't bring M-16s. We were told not to fire in the air, we didn't fire in the air.''

Lopez's cousin, Octavio Lopez, called the interruption ``a big mistake.''

``If carrying these rifles was part of the ceremony, a ceremony the family wanted, how could it have been anything but positive?'' he asked.

When U.S. Marines loaded Lopez's gray coffin onto a hearse earlier in the afternoon, a swell of local residents poured through the street and marched with the Lopez family past shabby brick homes.

A mariachi band dressed in green sang, ``Goodbye for ever, goodbye.'' The music never stopped during a somber 45-minute march across town.

As church services began, about 300 people who could not fit inside listened over loudspeakers and sang along.

An hour later, several hundred people marched about a half mile to the ceremony to watch as Lopez's gray coffin was lowered into the ground.

Some of those who marched in Lopez's honor voiced opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

Lopez met his wife in Dalton and the couple married in December. Earlier in the day, Oscar E. Lujan, attache for U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services at the embassy in Mexico City, presented her with Lopez's American citizenship, which he earned following his death.

GOD SAID "PARATROOPER"....

And the devil stood at attention

The Mexican culture is a proud one, and Im sure someone at the local garrison got his panties in a wad when a bunch of U.S.Marines showed up on their turf.

That having been said, they could and SHOULD have shown the respect the fallen Marine deserved and waited calmly until the end of the ceremonies to cause a ruckus. What assholes.

Yeah, that Mexican soldier in the center must be feeling sooo macho for disrupting a funeral...hence his grin.  Asshole...

At least those 3+ aren't running drugs or firing at the US Border Patrol...for the moment, at least.