Mexico “angry” with in-custody death of citizen, says consul general

VANCOUVER – Mexico’s consul general in Vancouver says her government is “quite angry” after one of its citizens died last month while in the custody of the Canada Border Services Agency.

Forty-two-year-old Lucia Vega Jimenez (heh-MAN’-ez) was found hanging in a shower stall in a holding cell at Vancouver’s airport on Dec. 20, and died in hospital a week later.

Consul General Claudia Franco says her government was informed of the suicide attempt the same day, one day before Jimenez was to be deported from Canada.

Franco says she has formally asked the border agency for information on the circumstances of the death and has contacted the BC Coroners Service.

She says the Mexican government expects authorities to conduct an impartial and thorough investigation, and it will be watching the case very closely.

A vigil is planned this evening for Vega Jimenez in downtown Vancouver, outside the border services agency office.