Mother of Australian surfers killed in Mexico gives moving tribute to sons at a beach in San Diego

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The mother of two Australian surfers killed in Mexico delivered a moving tribute to her sons Tuesday at a beach in San Diego.

“Our hearts are broken and the world has become a darker place for us,” Debra Robinson said, fighting back tears. “They were young men enjoying their passion of surfing together.”

Her sons, Callum and Jake, were allegedly killed by car thieves in Baja California, across the border from San Diego, somewhere around April 28 or 29.

Robinson also mourned the American who was killed with them, Jack Carter Rhoad.

The beachside location where she spoke, across the border from the Baja California city of Tijuana, was no coincidence. She noted that her son Callum “considered the United States his second home."

Robinson noted that her son Jake loved surfing so much that, as a doctor, he liked to work in hospitals near the beach.

“Jake’s passion was surfing, and it was no coincidence that many of his hospitals that he worked in were close to surfing beaches,” she said.

Choking back tears, Robinson conveyed a final message that coincided with her sons' adventurous lifestyles.

“Live bigger, shine brighter, and love harder in their memory,” she said.

Robinson thanked Australian officials and supporters there and in the United States.

While she thanked Mexico’s ambassador to Australia, she notably did not thank the local officials in Baja California who eventually found the bodies of her sons and Carter Rhoad.

Their killers dumped the bodies of the men into a well about 4 miles (6 kilometers) away from where they had been attacked at a beachside campsite. Investigators were surprised when, underneath the bodies of the three foreigners, a fourth body was found that had been there much longer. It was unclear if the body was related to the current case.

The fact that such killers are not caught or stopped in the overwhelming majority of cases in Mexico has led some Mexicans to protest that authorities only investigate such disappearances when they are high-profile cases involving foreigners.

Robinson said that her sons' bodies, or their ashes, will eventually be taken back to Australia.

“Now it’s time to bring them home to families and friends,” she said. “And the ocean waits in Australia.”

Prosecutors have identified three people as potential suspects, two of whom were caught with methamphetamines. One of them, a woman, had one of the victims’ cellphones when she was caught. Prosecutors said the two were being held pending drug charges but continue to be suspects in the killings.

A third man was arrested on charges of a crime equivalent to kidnapping, but that was before the bodies were found. It was unclear when or if he might face more charges.

The third man was believed to have directly participated in the killings. In keeping with Mexican law, prosecutors identified him by his first name, Jesús Gerardo, alias “el Kekas,” a slang word that means quesadillas, or cheese-filled tortillas.

He had a criminal record that included drug dealing, vehicle theft and domestic violence, and authorities said they were certain that more people were involved.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told a radio station in the Robinsons’ home town of Perth in Western Australia state that every parent felt for the family’s loss.

“I think the whole nation’s heart goes out to the parents of Callum and Jake Robinson. It is every parent’s worst nightmare to lose a son or a daughter. To lose these two brothers is just awful and my deepest sympathies and condolences and I’m sure the whole nation’s with the parents and with the other family and friends of these two fine young Australians,” Albanese told Perth Radio 6PR.

Albanese said he was reminded of when his only child Nathan Albanese traveled last year at the age of 22 to a musical festival in Spain.

“You do worry, but you think as well that’s part of the Australian right of passage, is traveling around with a backpack and meeting people and it’s how you grow as a person as well so you want to encourage them,” Albanese said.

In 2015, two Australian surfers, Adam Coleman and Dean Lucas, were killed in western Sinaloa state, across the Gulf of California — also known as the Sea of Cortez — from the Baja peninsula. Authorities said they were victims of highway bandits. Three suspects were arrested in that case.

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In this image taken from video, Australia's Debra Robinson stands with her husband Martin, following a media conference on the beach in San Diego, Tuesday, May 7, 2024 following the deaths in Mexico of their two sons during a surfing trip. The sons, Callum and Jake, and U.S. friend Jack Carter Rhoad, were allegedly killed by car thieves in Baja California, across the border from San Diego, somewhere around April 28 or 29. (Channel 9/POOL via AP)

In this image taken from video, Australia's Debra Robinson with her husband Martin, address the media on the beach in San Diego, Tuesday, May 7, 2024 following the deaths in Mexico of their two sons during a surfing trip. The sons, Callum and Jake, and U.S. friend Jack Carter Rhoad, were allegedly killed by car thieves in Baja California, across the border from San Diego, somewhere around April 28 or 29. (Channel 9/POOL via AP)

A demonstrator holding a bodyboard written in Spanish " No more violence" protests the disappearance of foreign surfers in Ensenada, Mexico, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Mexican authorities said Friday that three bodies were recovered in an area of Baja California near where two Australians and an American went missing last weekend during an apparent camping and surfing trip. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda)

A man holds flowers during a tribute to 3 missing surfers in Ensenada, Mexico, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Mexican authorities said Friday that three bodies were recovered in an area of Baja California near where two Australians and an American went missing last weekend during an apparent camping and surfing trip. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda)

Surfers throw flowers during a tribute to 3 missing surfers in Ensenada, Mexico, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Mexican authorities said Friday that three bodies were recovered in an area of Baja California near where two Australians and an American went missing last weekend during an apparent camping and surfing trip. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda)

A demonstrator holding a bodyboard written in Spanish " I don't want to die" protests the disappearance of foreign surfers in Ensenada, Mexico, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Mexican authorities said Friday that three bodies were recovered in an area of Baja California near where two Australians and an American went missing last weekend during an apparent camping and surfing trip. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda)

A demonstrator holding a bodyboard written in Spanish " They just wanted to surf and they were executed" protests the disappearance of foreign surfers in Ensenada, Mexico, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Mexican authorities said Friday that three bodies were recovered in an area of Baja California near where two Australians and an American went missing last weekend during an apparent camping and surfing trip. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda)

Mother of Australian surfers killed in Mexico gives moving tribute to sons at a beach in San Diego

Mother of Australian surfers killed in Mexico gives moving tribute to sons at a beach in San Diego

The photos of the foreign surfers who disappeared are placed on the beach in Ensenada, Mexico, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Mexican authorities said Friday that three bodies were recovered in an area of Baja California near where two Australians and an American went missing last weekend during an apparent camping and surfing trip. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda)

FIFA President Gianni Infantino chose to start his week in the Middle East joining U.S President Donald Trump's state visits with their close ally the Saudi Arabian crown prince, then the Emir of Qatar.

The knock-on effect was felt Thursday when Infantino's late arrival on private jet flights from Qatar forced FIFA's annual meeting in Paraguay to start more than three hours late.

It led to a mid-meeting walkout in protest by senior officials from European soccer body UEFA at the “deeply regrettable” delay.

UEFA said in a statement "what appears to be simply to accommodate private political interests, does the game no service and appears to put its interests second.”

Infantino had picked real-world politics with past and future World Cup host nations over being on the other side of the globe with his 211 national federation members and voters. They had started arriving in Paraguay three days earlier.

The Qatar state-provided jet flying the FIFA boss from Doha, via Nigeria, meant he was still at high altitude over the Atlantic Ocean when his meeting had been due to start.

It also pushed some senior European officials on FIFA's ruling council, including UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin, to leave their main stage seats early.

“We are uniting the world today in Asunción,” Infantino said in closing remarks on the stage where about one-quarter of the seats had been empty for the previous 90 minutes.

For the second straight year, there was no post-Congress news conference to question Infantino.

Infantino had apologized to his audience several times when the meeting finally opened close to 1 p.m. local time (1600 GMT) instead of the originally scheduled 9:30 a.m.

He cited issues with his flight and insisted it was important he had been in the Middle East at “important discussions ... with some world leaders in politics and economy.”

“I felt like I had to be there to represent all of you, to represent football,” Infantino said. “As president of FIFA my responsibility is to make decisions in the interests of the organization."

Paraguay President Santiago Peña also was affected. He delivered an opening speech that FIFA typically invites the host head of state to make hours later than scheduled, though he still praised Infantino as “a personal friend and a friend of Paraguay.”

Peña previously said in January he took credit for suggesting to Infantino that FIFA bring a major event to Paraguay, which is set to host one of the 104 games at the men's World Cup in 2030 being mostly co-hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

Infantino opted to join President Trump on the first legs of the tour instead of meeting with his voting members. Qatar hosted the men’s World Cup in 2022, the U.S. will co-host with Canada and Mexico next year and Saudi Arabia will host in 2034.

On Wednesday in Doha, Qatar’s ruling emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani — a fellow member of the International Olympic Committee with Infantino — hosted the visiting delegations at a state dinner at Lusail Palace.

Infantino has built close ties to both Trump administrations, and was inside the Capitol rotunda in January for the formal presidential inauguration ceremony.

Trump is set to present the trophy at the finals in MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey of both the Club World Cup in July and the World Cup next year. The Club World Cup trophy was in the Congress room Thursday. The gold trophy has spent much of the past weeks in the Oval Office at the White House.

With the meeting running so far late, some European delegates did not return to the hall after a mid-meeting coffee break.

Empty seats reserved for the 37-member FIFA Council chaired by Infantino included those of Ceferin and the other two FIFA vice presidents from Europe: Hungarian banker Sándor Csányi and Debbie Hewitt, the head of England's soccer federation. Officials from Germany, Norway and Romania also left.

Still on stage with Infantino was the most senior Paraguayan official in world soccer, Alejandro Dominguez, the FIFA vice president and head of South American soccer body CONMEBOL.

Paraguay being included in the 2030 World Cup project has been seen as a win in FIFA politics for Dominguez. The 100th birthday World Cup will see single games in the opening week in June 2030 also played in Argentina, the 2022 champion, and Uruguay, the inaugural 1930 host.

A recent CONMEBOL proposal to expand the 2030 tournament to 64 teams — double the size of the 2022 edition in Qatar, with more games in South America — has been opposed by leaders of other soccer regions, include Ceferin in Europe, Asia and North America.

Dominguez made a speech to the Congress that hinted at thinking bigger for 2030, without directly promoting the 64-team plan.

FIFA's congress in 2026 will be in Vancouver on April 30, six weeks before the city hosts its first game at the World Cup.

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FIFA President Gianni Infantino, right, talks to UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin during the FIFA 75th Congress at the Conmebol Convention Center in Luque, Paraguay, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Calistro)

Conmebol President Alejandro Dominguez, left, talks to FIFA President Gianni Infantino during FIFA's 75th Congress at the Conmebol Convention Center in Luque, Paraguay, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Calistro)

From left, Conmebol's President Alejandro Dominguez, Paraguay's President Santiago Pena, FIFA's President Gianni Infantino, and Paraguay's Soccer Association's President Robert Harrison stand before attendees of the FIFA 75th Congress at the Conmebol Convention Center in Luque, Paraguay, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Calistro)

FIFA President Gianni Infantino addresse the FIFA 75th Congress at the Conmebol Convention Center in Luque, Paraguay, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Calistro)

Guards stand at the entrance to the Conmebol Convention Center which is hosting the FIFA Congress in Luque, Paraguay, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Calistro)

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani signs a FIFA soccer ball as President Donald Trump and FIFA President Gianni Infantino look on, at the Lusail Palace, Wednesday, May 14, 2025, in Doha, Qatar, as they marked the passing of World Cup hosting duties from Qatar, which held it in 2022, to the United States, which is hosting in 2026. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

FIFA President Gianni Infantino gestures as he arrives for a state dinner hosted by Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in honor of President Donald Trump at Lusail Palace in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)