Thread: Mexico Interior Minister and officials die in plane crash

Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Mexican Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mourino, President Felipe Calderon's top aide and the head of the country's fight against drug traffickers, was killed when his plane crashed in Mexico City.

Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, the former chief prosecutor against drug crimes in the attorney general's office, also died in the crash. At least 40 people were injured on the ground and eight people were killed, Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said in an interview with the Televisa network.

The deaths are a blow to Calderon's war on drug cartels that have killed more than 4,000 people this year as they battle for trafficking routes into the U.S. Calderon has cracked down on the gangs since taking office in December 2006, dispatching thousands of troops to areas where they operate.

``With his death Mexico loses a great Mexican, intelligent, loyal, committed to his ideals and to the country,'' Calderon said during a speech at the city's main airport. ``With Juan Camilo Mourino I shared for many years a fight for the ideal of a new country, the ideal of a new and better Mexico.''

The plane, operated by the government, was a Learjet that had taken off from San Luis Potosi state this afternoon and was headed to Mexico City's airport, Televisa said.

Body parts were strewn across the sidewalk at the site of the crash, in the Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood of Mexico City, as onlookers screamed in panic and people covered in blood staggered on the street. Cars and a newsstand were engulfed in flames.

`Like a Bomb'

``The lights went off and everyone thought it was an earthquake,'' said Rafael Gutierrez Serrano, 28, who was inside a building on the street where the crash occurred. ``It was just like a bomb. It seemed like the fire was going to reach us.''

The plane crash occurred during rush hour in Mexico City, and traffic in much of the city slowed to a crawl. More than 1,900 people were evacuated from the site of the crash, which includes a mix of commercial and residential buildings, Ebrard said.

Mexico's peso plunged after reports of Mourino's death, falling 2.9 percent to 12.8466 per U.S. dollar at 1:05 p.m. in Tokyo.

Calderon appointed Mourino to the interior minister post in January. Mourino, who was 37 when he died, warned Sept. 23 that drug cartels were using their wealth to penetrate Mexico's police forces and may be contributing funds to candidates' campaigns for next year's midterm elections.

Blow to Calderon

Mourino previously served as a deputy energy minister under President Vicente Fox and as a congressman. He ran Calderon's campaign for president, and led negotiations with opposition party members on Calderon's bill to open the state oil industry to private and foreign investment.

``This is a blow to Calderon,'' said Larry Birns, director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, a Washington research group. ``It seems that events are out of control for his presidency.''

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza expressed sympathy for the families of the victims of the plane crash at an event to celebrate the U.S. presidential election tonight.

Calderon was traveling when the crash occurred and gave a press conference after his plane landed in Mexico City.

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Eye witnesses have claimed that the plane blew up in the sky and came down on fire, which raises the possibility that the plane was brought down by a bomb or a shoulder fired surface to air missle. Mouriño was flying back from a Security meeting regarding Organized Crime with other top law enforcement officials.

VIDEO:
http://mx.youtube.com/watch?v=i4nXDVGYa ... re=related

This sure does sound quite convenient for the cartels...one would have to assume this was their doing.

Just think, with more enforcement at our borders, more workplace enforcement, and statewide enforcement of banning illegals from having the tools (licenses) needed to settle in (thus making them want to go home). we can avoid becoming that nation with all of their corruptions.