U.S. workers shot in Mexico may be CIA employees

**JohnDoe2** · 08-29-2012, 03:32 PM

U.S.. w orkers shot in Mexico may be CIA employees

STRINGER/MEXICO/REUTERS - U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Earl Anthony Wayne (L) and Mexico's President Felipe Calderon sit together during an event in Mexico City August 28, 2012. Calderon on Tuesday promised justice for two U.S. agents as new details emerged on how they were allegedly shot at by federal police officers in plain clothes while heading to a Mexican marine base. Speaking alongside Wayne, Calderon said the incident should not dampen bilateral efforts to fight drug cartels.

By William Booth and Greg Miller, Published: August 28The Washington Post

TRES MARIAS, MEXICO — Mexican President Felipe Calderon apologized to the United States on Tuesday for an attack last week in which two U.S. government workers were wounded when Mexican federal police fired multiple rounds at their armored U.S. Embassy vehicle.

Speaking at a forum on Mexico’s security situation, Calderon turned to U.S. Ambassador E. Anthony Wayne and promised that the Mexican attorney general would get to the bottom of the case. Calderon also suggested that 12 federal police officers arrested Monday for alleged involvement in the shooting might have ties to criminal organizations.

Calderon’s comments coincided with new indications that the wounded U.S. officials were CIA employees. The agency link was first reported in the Mexican media. U.S. public records suggest that the name reportedly used by one of the shooting victims was a CIA cover identity associated with a post office box in Dunn Loring, Va. The agency declined to comment.

Calderon also did not address those reports Tuesday.
The CIA has expanded its presence in Mexico significantly in recent years as part of a broader U.S. effort to assist the Mexican government’s crackdown on drug cartels. Former senior CIA officials said the agency has shared intelligence with Mexico and helped its elite counter-narcotics teams root out corruption and identify officers with ties to drug lords.

But the former officials said the CIA has been frustrated by delays that can last months before Mexican authorities mount operations based on U.S.-provided intelligence and acknowledged that lingering mistrust makes the agency reluctant to share its most sensitive information even with vetted Mexican units.

Top Mexican officials have long denied or played down links between the CIA and their military.

The two U.S. employees and a Mexican navy captain serving as an interpreter were heading Friday to a navy training camp south of Mexico City when, the U.S. Embassy says, they were ambushed.

One of the wounded men was attached to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, and the other appeared to be in Mexico on temporary assignment, according to U.S. law enforcement officials and diplomats who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case is under investigation.

Officials with the FBI, the Pentagon and the Drug Enforcement Administration have said that the men were not employees of their agencies. The State Department also has declined to comment on whether the men were agency employees.

But an examination of public records suggests that the name used by one of the men may be fictitious, with similarities to others created by the CIA to provide cover for its officers overseas.

Shortly after the shooting, major Mexican news organizations identified one of the U.S. officials as Stan D. Boss, a name associated with a post office box at a Dunn Loring mail facility tied to at least one previous CIA cover identity that was publicly exposed. Records indicate that Boss was issued a Social Security number in Texas in 2004. Beyond that, the records are largely blank, with not even a date of birth associated with the name.

That same Dunn Loring post office is linked to dozens of other names that have similarly scant records and to Social Security numbers issued around the same time. Among the previous holders of post office boxes at that location was an individual named Philip P. Quincannon, who apparently does not exist but who was listed as an officer with at least two aviation companies suspected of involvement in CIA rendition flights after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Within hours of the attack Friday, Mexican media were publishing two names that they said belonged to the victims. Mexican media outlets first mentioned a CIA connection to the case Tuesday morning.

The Mexican news media reported, and U.S. law enforcement officials later confirmed, that the Americans came under attack by Mexican federal police officers who were dressed in civilian clothes and driving civilian vehicles.

According to the accounts, the Americans were driving the embassy armored car when they were confronted at a checkpoint by a carload of Mexican federal police officers. The Americans, threatened by what appeared to be civilians brandishing military weapons, quickly fled the scene.

Soon after, a total of four vehicles, all civilian and all containing Mexican federal police personnel, got into a high-speed chase, shooting at the fleeing Americans, according to the accounts.

The Americans sped down a winding, potholed mountain road, past pastures and small farms. An officer in the Mexican army on patrol in the hills said the area was not a hot spot for drug cartels but was beset by small-time thugs who kidnapped victims and stole their phones and credit cards. The victims were often left tied to trees.

The Americans were eventually surrounded and the federal police fired multiple rounds at their vehicle, close enough to see who was inside, according to an account in the newspaper La Jornada.

Some Mexican law enforcement officials have said that the confrontation was caused by confusion — that the federal police were in the area chasing kidnappers who had seized the head of the National Anthropology Museum.

A spokeswoman for the museum said it had no reports indicating that anyone from the institute had been kidnapped.

Miller reported from Washington. Julie Tate in Washington and Gabriela Martinez in Mexico City contributed to this report.

U.S. workers shot in Mexico may be CIA employees - The Washington Post

**JohnDoe2** · 08-29-2012, 03:39 PM

Shot Americans were CIA agents, officials say
Tampabay.com‎ - 13 hours ago
Mexican prosecutors have detained 12 federal police officers and have said no theory could be ruled out. The CIA declined to comment.
Mexicans raise questions over CIA role in drug war

Radio Netherlands‎ - 2 hours ago
Americans Shot in Mexico Were CIA Operatives Aiding in Drug War

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**JohnDoe2** · 08-29-2012, 05:29 PM

Mexican police attacked CIA officers, ambush probed: sources

By Ioan Grillo | Reuters – 38 mins ago

TRES MARIAS, Mexico (Reuters) - Two U.S. officials shot and wounded by Mexican federal police just south of the capital were CIA officers, security sources say, and the attack could badly hurt U.S.-Mexico cooperation in a war against drug cartels if found to be a deliberate ambush.

The pair of experienced officers were on their way to a Mexican Marine base on Friday, working with local authorities on a training mission, when federal police riddled their armored van bearing diplomatic plates with bullets.

The men, traveling with a Mexican Marine captain, were wounded and taken to a hospital for treatment, though their injuries were not life threatening. Television footage showed the vehicle strafed with bullet marks, its tires and rear window shot out.

A dozen federal police officers detained and questioned over the attack have been ordered held in custody for 40 days, and in initial statements to federal prosecutors they claimed they confused the Americans for criminals.

However, eyewitnesses at a bend in the road outside the small town of Tres Marias told Reuters the gunmen were dressed in plain clothes and carried rifles. They said they pursued the Americans firing from unmarked cars trying to box them in and on foot -- a classic style of gangland hits in Mexico.

"We had no idea at all they were police. They looked like criminals," said one woman who witnessed the incident but asked not to be named for fear of repercussions.

Witnesses said the CIA driver made impressive evasive maneuvers which likely saved their lives, and they believe they heard hundreds of bullets fired, estimating the incident lasted around six minutes.

One media report said shell casings from AK-47s, which are not used by Mexican police and are a weapon of choice for drug cartel members, were found at the scene, which could suggest the police were working in tandem with gangs.

Tres Marias is close to the city of Cuernavaca, a weekend retreat that has been badly hit by drug violence in recent years. In 2009, Mexican Marines shot dead leading cartel boss Arturo Beltran Leyva, alias "The Beard," in Cuernavaca based on information from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

U.S. and Mexican officials are probing last week's incident to ascertain whether it was a mix-up, or more sinister.

A Mexican official close to the investigation who asked not be identified said the CIA officers were within a few miles of the Marine base when they were shot by the men in civilian clothes.
The CIA declined to comment on the incident.

One U.S. official familiar with inquiries into the incident said that there are a "whole lot of unanswered questions" and that future dealings between the United States and Mexico could be seriously affected if the United States concludes that a major cover-up is going on.

DELIBERATE AMBUSH?
Mexico's police services have been plagued by cases of corruption and officers working for hire for cartels in recent years, amid a surge in violence that poses a major challenge for incoming President Enrique Pena Nieto.
Roadside shootings have been a fea
ture of the violence linked to drug gangs that has overshadowed President Felipe Calderon's six years in office. Gangs have been known to set up fake military checkpoints to ambush rivals.

Last year, two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were shot by hitmen on a major Mexican highway. One of the agents died.

Calderon promised on Tuesday to get to the bottom of how the pair were shot by federal police officers.

Speaking alongside the U.S. ambassador in Mexico, Calderon said the shooting incident should not hinder bilateral efforts to fight Mexico's violent drug cartels.

"We can't allow these things to happen, whether it is because of negligence, lack of training, lack of trust or complicity," Calderon said.

Major U.S. agencies including the CIA, FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration operate out of the embassy in Mexico City.

Under the "Merida Initiative" which began in 2008, U.S. agents have trained Mexican police and soldiers to help them with Calderon's war on traffickers. Washington has also supplied Mexico with equipment including Black Hawk helicopters and surveillance gear.

Much of the training and hardware has gone to the Marines, an elite force that operates out of Mexico's Navy Ministry and has captured or killed several major drug traffickers. However, the United States has also trained the federal police.

During Calderon's six-year offensive against cartels, there have been more than 55,000 drug-related murders. More than 3,000 police and soldiers have died, although many were involved with the gangs.

Mexican police attacked CIA officers, ambush probed: sources - Yahoo! News

**JohnDoe2** · 08-29-2012, 05:55 PM

RELATED

Marines vs. Zetas: U.S. Hunts Drug Cartels in Guatemala

**Newmexican** · 08-29-2012, 08:15 PM

DELIBERATE AMBUSH?

Mexico's police services have been plagued by cases of corruption and officers working for hire for cartels in recent years, amid a surge in violence that poses a major challenge for incoming President Enrique Pena Nieto.

Roadside shootings have been a feature of the violence linked to drug gangs that has overshadowed President Felipe Calderon's six years in office. Gangs have been known to set up fake military checkpoints to ambush rivals.

It sounds like they knew who they were and where they were going to be. I continue to think the whole original story was fishy.

**JohnDoe2** · 08-29-2012, 08:25 PM

Originally Posted by Newmexican

. . . I continue to think the whole original story was fishy.

That's what happens when the media tries to write a story, to be the first to report on any news, before an investigation is even started, much less completed.

**JohnDoe2** · 08-29-2012, 08:42 PM

UPDATE 1-Mexican police attacked CIA officers, ambush likely-sources

Thu Aug 30, 2012 4:22am IST
by Ioan Grillo

TRES MARIAS, Mexico, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Mexican federal police shot and wounded two CIA operatives last week, security sources said, in an apparently deliberate attack that could hurt U.S.-Mexico cooperation in their war against drug cartels.

The two experienced officers were just south of the capital on their way to a Mexican Marine base on Friday, working with local authorities on a training mission, when federal police riddled their armored van bearing diplomatic plates with bullets.

The men, traveling with a Mexican Marine captain, were wounded and taken to a hospital for treatment, though their injuries were not life-threatening. Their vehicle's tires and rear windshield were shot out.

A dozen federal police officers detained and questioned over the attack have been ordered held in custody for 40 days. In initial statements to federal prosecutors, they claimed they confused the Americans for criminals.

However, witnesses who saw the shooting at a bend in the road outside the small town of Tres Marias told Reuters the gunmen were dressed in plain clothes and pursued the Americans firing from unmarked cars and on foot -- a classic style of gangland hits in Mexico.

"We had no idea at all they were police. They looked like criminals," said one woman who witnessed the incident but asked not to be named for fear of repercussions.

A Mexican government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the evidence suggested gang members and corrupt police had carried out the attack before other police arrived at the scene and prevented the men being killed.

"This was not an accident," the official said.

Witnesses said the CIA driver made impressive evasive maneuvers which likely saved the lives of those inside the car, and they believe they heard hundreds of bullets fired, estimating the incident lasted around six minutes.

The Mexican official said the vehicle was chased for about 4 km (2.5 miles) before it was halted, and that shell casings from AK-47s, which are not used by Mexican police and are a weapon of choice for drug cartel members, were found at the scene.

A total of four vehicles were involved in the incident, though only the shot-up van was found at the scene, the official added. One of the vehicles identified by eyewitnesses has been linked to other crimes, the official said.

Tres Marias is close to the city of Cuernavaca, a popular weekend retreat for Mexico City residents that has been badly hit by drug violence in recent years. In 2009, Mexican Marines shot dead leading cartel boss Arturo Beltran Leyva, alias "The Beard," in Cuernavaca in an operation based on information from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

His brother and fellow drug boss, Hector Beltran Leyva, is thought by some security experts to be at large nearby.

The Mexican official said the rise in criminal activity in the area was very likely being abetted by corrupt police.

"The police here have been heavily infiltrated by organized crime," said a local man, who declined to be identified.

American and Mexican officials are still investigating the incident and Mexican Attorney General Marisela Morales said on Wednesday that an ambush was one possible explanation.

U.S. officials in diplomatic vehicles went over the scene of the shooting on Wednesday, taking fresh evidence under the protection of Mexican Marines.

A separate Mexican official close to the investigation who asked not to be identified said the CIA officers were within a few miles of the Marine base when they were shot at.

The CIA declined to comment on the incident.

One U.S. official familiar with inquiries into the incident said there are a "whole lot of unanswered questions" and that dealings between the United States and Mexico could be seriously affected if Washington concludes a major cover-up is going on.

DELIBERATE AMBUSH?
Mexico's police have been plagued by corruption and officers working for hire for cartels in recent years, amid a surge in violence that poses a major challenge for incoming President Enrique Pena Nieto, who is due to take office in December.

Roadside shootings have been a feature of the violence that has overshadowed President Felipe Calderon's six years in office. Gangs have been known to set up fake military checkpoints to ambush rivals.

Last year, two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were shot by hitmen on a major Mexican highway. One of the agents died.

Calderon promised on Tuesday to get to the bottom of how the two CIA officers were shot. Speaking alongside the U.S. ambassador in Mexico, Calderon said the incident should not hinder bilateral efforts to fight Mexico's violent drug cartels.

"We can't allow these things to happen, whether it is because of negligence, lack of training, lack of trust or complicity," Calderon said.
The CIA, FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration have officers operating out of the U.S. embassy in Mexico City.

Under the "Merida Initiative" which began in 2008, U.S. operatives have trained Mexican police and soldiers to help them fight the cartels.

Washington has also supplied equipment including Black Hawk helicopters and surveillance gear.

Much of the training and hardware has gone to the Marines, an elite force inside Mexico's Navy Ministry that has captured or killed several major drug traffickers. However, the United States has also trained the federal police.

During Calderon's six-year offensive against cartels, there have been more than 55,000 drug-related murders. More than 3,000 police and soldiers have died, although many were involved with the gangs.

UPDATE 1-Mexican police attacked CIA officers, ambush likely-sources | Reuters

**Newmexican** · 08-30-2012, 01:32 PM

However, witnesses who saw the shooting at a bend in the road outside the small town of Tres Marias told Reuters the gunmen were dressed in plain clothes and pursued the Americans firing from unmarked cars and on foot -- a classic style of gangland hits in Mexico.

"We had no idea at all they were police. They looked like criminals," said one woman who witnessed the incident but asked not to be named for fear of repercussions.

I wonder who knew they would be there? Mexico is so corrupt and it runs deep into the government.

Jaime Zapata was killed in a similar attack in a diplomatic vehicle - this makes me really wonder since he was doing Fast and Furious investigations in Texas before he received his temporary assignment to Mexico.