Pubdate: Fri, 27 Jan 2006
Source: San Bernardino Sun (CA)
Copyright: 2006 Los Angeles Newspaper Group
Contact: http://www.sbsun.com/writealetter
Website: http://www.sbsun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1417
Author: Sara A. Carter, Staff Writer
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MEXICAN OFFICIAL BLAMES U.S. TROOPS

A Mexican official suggested Thursday that it was American soldiers 
disguised as Mexicans who were involved in an armed standoff Monday 
along the Rio Grande with U.S. law-enforcement officers.

Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez said in a news conference that 
U.S. soldiers have helped drug traffickers in the past, but offered 
no proof in this instance.

"Members of the U.S. Army have helped protect people who were 
processing and transporting drugs," Derbez said. "And just as that 
has happened ... it is very probable that something like that could 
have happened, that in reality they were members of some of their 
groups disguised as Mexican soldiers with Humvees."

White House officials would not comment on Derbez's claim and 
referred all questions to the Department of Defense.

A Defense Department spokeswoman, Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke, said 
officials from both Mexico and the United States are investigating 
the incident on the Texas border.

"The U.S. and Mexican government are working together to gain control 
of the border and will continue to collaborate," Krenke said.

On Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza issued a statement asking 
the Mexican government to "fully investigate" the border incident, 
which The Sun's sister newspaper, the Ontario-based Inland Valley 
Daily Bulletin, first reported earlier this week.

Rep. David Dreier,  R-Glendora, reiterated the need for a 
congressional investigation on Thursday.

"Honestly, we need to get information for everybody's understanding," 
he said. "There are stories everywhere with few answers. We need to 
get to the bottom of this as soon as possible."

Dreier and Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-San Diego, jointly called for such 
an investigation after the two newspapers published a Jan. 15 story 
reporting more than 200 Mexican military incursions during the past 
10 years, as documented by the Department of Homeland Security.

The Bulletin also obtained a 2001 map bearing the seal of the 
president's Office of National Drug Control Policy and showing the 
locations  of 34 of those incursions.

Derbez said his country will send a diplomatic note to Secretary of 
State Condoleezza Rice demanding that U.S. officials tone down their 
comments on Mexico's security and immigration problems.

State Department officials late Thursday said they have not received 
any note from the Mexican government and thus would not comment on 
Derbez's remarks.

Monday's armed standoff began 50 miles southeast of El Paso, when 
Texas state police tried to stop three sport utility vehicles on 
Interstate 10. The vehicles made a quick U-turn and headed south 
toward the border, a few miles away.

Crossing the border, one SUV got stuck in the Rio Grande, and men in 
a Humvee with a mounted gun tried in vain to tow it out. Then a group 
of men in civilian clothes began unloading what appeared to be 
bundles of marijuana and torched the SUV before fleeing.

Mexican officials insisted Wednesday that the men in military-style 
uniforms were drug smugglers, not soldiers. In Mexico, kidnappers and 
drug smugglers regularly wear police gear, which is sold at street stands.

Derbez said there was no proof that the men seen in the incident were 
Mexicans and that the men photographed by Texas law enforcement could 
have been Americans.

Three U.S. soldiers have pleaded guilty to running a cocaine 
smuggling ring from a U.S. base in Colombia, and a fourth is being 
tried in Texas this week.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman