| | |  Editorials | Issues | October 2008 
Rice Praises ‘Cooperation’ with Mexico, No Mention of Americans Murdered
 Penny Starr - CNSNews.com
go to original
| | Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Patricia Espinosa at a meeting last week in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. (AP) | | |
At a press conference last week in Puerto Vallarta with the Mexican minister of foreign affairs, Secretary of State of Condoleezza Rice spoke of her “wonderful visit” and of the “cooperation” between the United States and Mexico in fighting drug cartels.
But there is no evidence that Rice spoke with Mexican officials about the hundreds of unsolved cases of Americans murdered in Mexico over the last six years. Also, her visit occurred at a time when the State Department had issued another travel advisory warning Americans of “small-unit combat,” automatic weapons, and “grenades” being used in shootouts in towns that border the United States.
According to the U.S. State Department, 128 U.S. citizens were killed in Mexico from October 2002 to June 2005. In its latest report, 118 U.S. citizens were victims of homicides or “executions” between July 1, 2005 and June 30, 2008.
In its Oct. 14 travel alert for Americans traveling in Mexico, the State Department warned U.S. citizens that “recent Mexican army and police confrontations with drug cartels have taken on the characteristics of small-unit combat, with cartels employing automatic weapons and, on occasion, grenades.”
The alert also said that a number of areas along the border “are experiencing rapid growth in the rates of many types of crimes” and added the city of Nogales as one of several cities along the border that has “recently experienced public shootouts during daylight hours in shopping centers and other public venues.”
The warning cited “special concern” about Ciudad Juarez, where more than 1,600 cars were stolen in July 2008 and where “bank robberies there are up dramatically.”
In her press conference, Rice referred to a recent shooting at the U.S. consulate in Monterrey as an “unfortunate incident.”
“As for the unfortunate incident in Monterrey concerning our Consulate, first of all, we have had excellent cooperation with the Mexican government at both the local and at the national level,” Rice said.
When asked why the cooperation between the U.S. and Mexican governments does not include solving the murders of American citizens in Mexico, Nichole Thompson, spokesperson for the State Department, advised CNSNews.com to look online to find contact information for Mexican authorities, who she said are in charge of these homicide cases.
“If you want to find out the status of these cases, you have to talk to the Mexican authorities,” Thompson said. “If a crime happens in a foreign country, the U.S. has no jurisdiction in that country. We have no more jurisdiction in Mexico than Mexico does here in the United States.
“Mexico is a sovereign country,” Thompson said. “The United States cannot go into Mexico and say this is what’s going to happen, no more than we can go into Germany and say this is what we are going to do.”
Rice also spoke about the cooperation between the U.S. and Mexican authorities on the Bush administration’s Merida Initiative, legislation that will give Mexico $950 million over the next several years and $150 million to Central America over the same time period to fight drug cartels.
At the conclusion of the press conference, Rice thanked Patricia Espinosa, the Mexican foreign relations secretary, and spoke again of the United States’ close relationship with Mexico.
“And if I can close by thanking you again, Patricia, in saying that I think that the level of cooperation – the depth and breadth of this relationship – has grown, is one of mutual respect and mutual cooperation is really extraordinary,” Rice said. “Thanks for inviting me.”
According to the State Department’s latest report on Non-Natural Death Cases Abroad of U.S. Citizens, 26 of the 118 homicides took place in Tijuana, located just across the border from San Diego, Calif.
Nogales, the Mexican city named in the travel alert for daylight shootouts in shopping centers, is less than 50 miles from the city of Green Valley, Ariz., and 60 miles from Tucson. |
|
| |
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us