A potential international incident is developing in Mexico after media reports that contradict official statements about US drone flights intended to collect information on drug cartels.
A report from the newspaper La Jornada implies the flights were not authorized by the Mexican government.
In February and March, the US government flew unmanned surveillance drones over areas in Mexico believed to be controlled by drug cartels.
Video from the flights is supposed to be used by US and Mexican law enforcement agencies trying to crack down on drug and arms trafficking.
Since December 2006, the Mexican government has waged a war against the cartels that has claimed about 35,000 lives. American law enforcement agencies have been assisting the Mexicans while trying to prevent drug lords from exporting their violence across the border.
Mexicos Foreign Ministry acknowledged in March that it knew about the drone flights.
Alejandro Poire, Mexicos national security spokesman, said the Mexican government authorized each of the flights.
Poire said in a statement in March that the definition of objectives, the information to be collected and the specific tasks to be carried out have been under control of Mexican authorities.
He also said, As part of the bilateral security cooperation, the government of Mexico has requested on occasion and for specific events from the government of the United States the support of unmanned aircraft to obtain specific information, defined by the government of Mexico.
However, La Jornada reported this week that there is no record of official authorization of the flights by the Mexican government.
A formal request for information to the Mexican Foreign Ministry showed that after a thorough search, no information was found in the files of the administrative unit consulted, the newspaper reported.
Investigative material from the flights also failed to describe the dates or identities of specific criminal groups pursued by the surveillance drones, called Predators, the news reports said.
The request for information covered a time period that ran for nearly the past 11 years.
Some of the flights were made after the murder of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Jaime Zapata, who was ambushed Feb. 15 by members of Los Zetas drug cartel.
Zapata and a second ICE agent were driving along a highway north of Mexico City when they were ambushed. The second agent was shot in the leg but recovered.
Mexican police later said the drone flights helped them identify and arrest gang members who ambushed the ICE agents.
The newspaper report implying the drone flights were unauthorized coincides with increasing resentment in Mexico about what some Mexicans believe is US infringement upon their national sovereignty.
Nevertheless, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) said in a recent interview with the Mexican news agency Notimex that the US government would increase the number of Predators operating along the border.
Currently, the US Department of Homeland Security uses three Predators to patrol the Mexican border.
Congress has supplemented the budget for the flights by $600 million, said Cuellar, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee. He declined to say how many more Predators would be added to the fleet.
However, he did say they would operate from a base at Corpus Christi, TX.
The Predators can fly more than three miles high, using radar, video and infrared sensors to monitor activity on the ground day and night.
Tags: Media Reports
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