DATE=4/7/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=MEXICO BORDER(L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-261067
BYLINE=GREG FLAKUS
DATELINE=MEXICO CITY
CONTENT=
INTRO: Mexico's foreign minister is proposing new
mechanisms to avoid accidental confrontations between
Mexican and US law enforcement officials along the two
nations' nearly two-thousand kilometer-long border.
As VOA's Greg Flakus reports from Mexico City, there
have been at least two potentially tragic clashes in
recent weeks.
TEXT: Mexican Foreign Minister Rosario Green says
Mexico and the United States should work to develop a
system of communication to avoid confusion and
dangerous incidents between law enforcers at the
border. She described an incident earlier this week
as a "misunderstanding" that might have been avoided
had there been better communication.
The incident to which she referred happened Tuesday in
a tunnel that connects the cities of Nogales, in the
Mexican state of Sonora, with the city of Nogales,
Arizona, on the US side of the border. Police from
Nogales, Arizona entered the tunnel to prepare for the
entry of a city repair crew that was installing new
metal grates. When the police entered they were
immediately confronted by armed men who turned out to
be a Mexican army patrol searching for illegal aliens
and drug smugglers. For a few tense seconds both
sides stood facing each other with guns drawn. The
incident ended without violence once both sides had
identified themselves. The Mexican soldiers later
admitted to having passed over to the US side of the
tunnel by mistake.
The Arizona policemen later said the standoff had
nearly led to bloodshed and that, in the tight
quarters of the dark tunnel, few would have been left
alive if a gun battle had occurred. A Mexican army
officer downplayed the incident and Mexican consul in
Nogales, Roberto Burgos, praised both sides for acting
"prudently and professionally."
On March 14, there was a confrontation in a desert
area near the border in the state of New Mexico
between Mexican soldiers and US Border Patrol agents
in which shots were fired. The Border Patrol detained
several Mexican soldiers who had accidently crossed
the border on an anti-narcotics operation. The Border
Patrol agents say they came under fire from another
group of soldiers who were on the Mexican side, but
they did not return fire. The detained soldiers were
later released and allowed to return to Mexico.
(Signed)
NEB/PT
07-Apr-2000 18:31 PM EDT (07-Apr-2000 2231 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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