Zapata family remembers fallen son

Jaime Jorge Zapata wasn’t the only one that died a year ago this Wednesday.

Something in his mother and father did, too.

“I do believe that part of me died,” Mary Zapata-Muñoz says as the first anniversary of the death of her son, a special agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, approaches.

“If we had known the situation, we wouldn’t have let him go,” his father, Amador Zapata Jr, says, expressing their grief and feelings of guilt for not objecting to their son’s assignment in Mexico. Jaime Zapata died nine days after arriving in Mexico.

“It’s in a mother’s nature to take care of your child, to guard him, and on that fateful day, I couldn’t guard him,” his mother says.

Zapata, “Alpha 5195,” was 32 years old.

Zapata, who was stationed in Laredo, was supposed to be in Mexico last February through April. He had planned a visit to Brownsville in May to spend his birthday with his family.

He was killed, and fellow ICE Special Agent Victor Avila of El Paso was wounded, when two squads of gunmen attacked them on Highway 57 by Santa Maria Del Rio, between Monterrey and Mexico City. They were traveling in a U.S. government Chevrolet Suburban after meeting in San Luis Potosí with U.S. personnel assigned to Monterrey to pick up some equipment. They were returning to the ICE attaché office in Mexico City. Their attackers were allegedly from the Zetas criminal organization.

“It’s been very difficult,” Zapata’s mother says

“It’s a roller coaster,” she says of the family’s feelings.

“I have nightmares of his last moments, what it must have been like. Being in a foreign country, not to hurt anybody; he must have thought ‘what’s going on?’, ‘what are these people doing?’ How did they take his life? Can you imagine what it must have been like, what he must have gone through,” she says.

Those thoughts and others strengthen their commitment to make sure that everyone responsible for the attack is brought to justice. She recites an adage referring to the one giving an order being as responsible as the one executing it.

But in their darkness, light emerges from the tremendous outpouring of support, love and goodwill from throughout the nation, people recognizing and honoring their son. The Jaime Jorge Zapata Foundation has been established to assist students interested in law enforcement and to aid families of fallen officers.

Grief disappears from the parents’ faces for a moment when they talk about their son, describing him as an unselfish, fun, friendly, caring and respectful young man who loved his family and was always surrounded by friends. He loved music and the outdoors.

Zapata’s mother recently was going through family photo albums. “He has a smile in every photograph,” she says. “He was the light of our lives. He had a very good heart.”

“He called us every day,” Zapata’s father remarks, remembering a son always in contact with his parents and asking about his four brothers. “Sometimes when I hear the phone ring, I think it’s Jaime.”

Some things remain unchanged.

Zapata’s pickup is still in the driveway at the family home in Brownsville. “He had all kinds of CDs. They’re all still there, in the pickup,” his father says.

The boat he cherished is in the driveway, too.

Zapata’s house in Laredo has been kept the same as when he left, although it was recently burglarized. His mother wants to bring the contents of his bedroom to Brownsville and maintain it just as it was.

She doesn’t know why. It’s just something she has to do.

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