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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | July 2005 
Mexico On Heightened State Of Alert
 Wire services
| | George W. Bush looks shaken as British Prime Minister Tony Blair makes a statement after the London bombings, which killed over 50 people. (Photo: Getty Images) |
Mexico said Thursday it was implementing a heightened antiterrorism plan after a series of explosions in London, as well as the move to an elevated state of alert in the United States.
Interior Secretary Carlos Abascal said security officials will be more vigilant around foreign embassies and diplomatic missions across Mexico, particularly those in nations on the front lines of the war on terror.
The so-called "Plan Lookout" also includes stepped-up security at airports and seaports, hydroelectric dams and key telecommunications and oil industry installations.
As part of the anti-terror measures, federal officials began a special operation to find and imprison the leaders and key operatives of people-smuggling organizations.
U.S. officials have long worried that groups helping undocumented Mexicans slip across the U.S. border in search of work could easily be hired by terrorists, helping them to infiltrate U.S. territory from the south without being detected. However, there have so far been no confirmed cases of terror suspects working with migrant smugglers.
The worst attack on London since World War II killed at least 37 people and injured 700 more. Four explosions went off within an hour, beginning at 8:51 a.m. (3:51 a.m. EDT), and hit three subway stations and a doubledecker bus.
Speaking from the Group of Eight summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, U.S. President George W. Bush urged U.S. citizens to be "extra vigilant," and his administration raised the terror alert for mass transit a notch to code orange. Security also was increased in the U.S. Capitol and in train and bus stations around the country.
"Once the United States had declared an orange alert ... Mexico decided this morning to put Plan Lookout into action," Abascal said. "This is a relative way to prevent any terrorism act that could originate from our territory."
President Vicente Fox's top Cabinet member said the new precautions will not infringe on constitutional guarantees.
The plan was originally announced in March 2003 as part of Mexico's ongoing effort to support the U.S. anti-terrorism efforts. Two years ago, authorities said the heightened security scheme would mobilize 18,000 troops to provide added security at the Mexico-U.S. border and around key sites valuable to the Mexican oil industry.
Abascal did not say how many soldiers and federal officials would be reassigned as part of the plan's implementation Thursday, and their immediate duties were unclear.
During a news conference at the G-8 summit, Fox said the attacks weren't just against Britain, but against all democracies.
Also Thursday, five Central and South American presidents meeting in San Jose, Costa Rica, held a moment of silence to remember those killed and wounded in London.
During a meeting about European tariffs that have hurt Latin America's banana industry, leaders from Costa Rica, Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala and Panama issued a statement condemning the explosions and expressing their "profound grief."
They called on the international community to "continue collaborating and cooperating to defeat those who intimidate pluralist and free democracies." |
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