Agent Victor Avila Reveals Assault that Killed Agent Zapata

No one knows for sure why Agent Zapata and Agent Avila, assigned to the US Embassy, were asked to travel on road 57, a road controlled by the Zeta Cartel and extremely dangerous. They didn’t even know why they were given the mission to retrieve electronic surveillance equipment. The urgency made it even more suspicious.

“Why Jaime and me?” said Ms. Avila-Villalobos. “It wasn’t our operation. It was equipment that could have been sent in some other way.”

Agent Avila immediately asked his supervisors why they wanted them to travel on this risky road given the security issues. The supervisors claimed there weren’t any security issues. However, the United States State Department had forbidden any US Embassy employee from traveling on that road.

“Why send them by themselves?” asks Mary Zapata, Agent Zapata’s mother.

Here is what happened in Agent Avila’s own words.