Mexican Gunmen, Police Fire On U.S. Diplomatic Car; 2 Hurt

[Ryan Ruck]

Mexican Gunmen, Police Fire On U.S. Diplomatic Car; 2 Hurt

August 24, 2012



A U.S. Embassy vehicle was attacked today south of Mexico City, and Mexican Federal Police also shot at the SUV during a confusing gunbattle, the Mexican Navy reports.

Two U.S. government personnel were wounded.

Update at 5:21 p.m. ET: At least four vehicles opened fire, the Mexican Navy says, though it hasn't clarified how many were occupied by police.

Here's how AP is describing what happened, based on what's being shared at the moment:

The shootings appeared to have been the result of a confused running gunbattle that broke out on a rural road in a mountainous area that has been used by common criminals, drug gangs and leftist rebels in the past.

The Navy said the embassy personnel were heading down a dirt road to a military installation when a carload of gunmen opened fire on them and chased them, along with a Navy officer accompanying them.

The Americans' vehicle tried to escape, but three other cars joined the original vehicle in pursuing them down the road. Occupants of all four vehicles opened fire, and the Navy captain called more help. Federal police officers and Mexican army troops then showed up on the road. The statement does not make clear whose bullets injured the U.S. workers

Update at 4:43 p.m. ET: The Mexican Navy now says that federal police shot at the U.S. vehicle after it was attacked by a carload of unidentified gunmen, the Associated Press is reporting. It's not clear whether the two U.S. personnel, traveling with a Mexican Navy officer, were wounded by bullets from the gunmen or the police.

The AP writes that it "appears to have been a case of a confused gunbattle" on a dirt road leading to a military installation. The gunmen fired on and chased the SUV, which bears diplomatic license plates, before the federal police arrived and began shooting. The gunmen escaped.

The BBC reports that more than 30 shots were fired and that the police were investigating a report of a stolen vehicle in the area.

Update at 3:22 p.m. ET: The Associated Press, citing an unnamed official, said two U.S. government personnel were hospitalized. One was shot in the stomach and a hand, and the other suffered a leg wound. They were in an armored SUV when they were fired on, reportedly by occupants of a Mexican Federal Police vehicle.

Neither works for the Drug Enforcement Administration or the FBI, but the official would not identify their affiliation.

Original post by Douglas Stanglin:

Update at 2:59 p.m. ET: CNN initially reported that three Marines on a diplomatic mission were injured and taken to a hospital in Cuernavaca.

CNN later says there are conflicting reports on the persons injured. The cable news network, however, continues to report that a U.S. diplomatic car was fired upon by gunmen purportedly in a Mexican federal police vehicle.

The Mexican newspaper El Sol de Mexico reports that two DEA shooting instructors were among three people shot in an incident in the village of Fierro del Toro Huitzilac Township.

It says the Americans were traveling in a Toyota pickup with diplomatic plates.

The newspaper notes that "given the secrecy of the federal authorities," Mexican police patrolling the area may not have been aware of the occupants of the vehicle and may have fired on it if the occupants did not stop.

CNN quoted an unidentified Mexican military official earlier as saying gunmen in a purported Mexican federal police vehicle fired on a U.S. Embassy vehicle in which Marines were riding.

Adding to the confusion, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials tells CNN that a U.S. diplomatic vehicle was "shot up" but that none of its officers was involved.

The Mexican military official told CNN that occupants of the U.S. Embassy vehicle were wearing civilian clothes and were on an undisclosed diplomatic mission.

[American Patriot]

Yeah, those military and cops need guns alright. The civilians are stupid. They must have got in the way or something

[Ryan Ruck]

Americans Shot in Mexico Were C.I.A. Operatives Aiding in Drug War

August 28, 2012

The two Americans who were wounded when gunmen fired on an American Embassy vehicle last week were Central Intelligence Agency employees sent as part of a multiagency effort to bolster Mexican efforts to fight drug traffickers, officials said on Tuesday.

The two operatives, who were hurt on Friday, were participating in a training program that involved the Mexican Navy. They were traveling with a Mexican Navy captain in an embassy sport utility vehicle that had diplomatic license plates, heading toward a military shooting range 35 miles south of the capital when gunmen, some or all of them from the Federal Police, attacked the vehicle, Mexican officials have said.

The Mexican Navy said Tuesday in a statement that an American was driving the vehicle and that during the attack the captain, who was handling logistics and translating for the men, remained in the back seat calling for help on his cellphone.

The men were wounded, the Navy said, when the rain of bullets managed to tear through the car’s protective armor. It was unclear if the Americans, who officials said were unarmed, were specifically targeted, if the shooting was a case of mistaken identity or if there was some other reason that the vehicle was ambushed. Mexican prosecutors have detained 12 federal police officers and have said no theory can be ruled out.

The C.I.A. declined to comment. But American officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information, said no evidence had emerged so far that the Americans were targeted because of their affiliation.

American investigators are working with Mexican authorities to determine what happened and whether the police officers involved were corrupt.

The notion that a squad of federal police officers would attack an embassy car could be another blow to the developing trust and cooperation between American counternarcotics personnel and their Mexican partners.

Through programs like the $1.6-billion Merida Initiative, the United States has spent millions of dollars on training and equipping the federal police.

Eric Olson, an expert at the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute in Washington, said the shooting could only sow some doubts about the police, and at best pointed to a lack of communication among Mexico’s military and the police.

“This seems to suggest there isn’t better communication between the various elements of the Mexican government,” he said. “One fundamental issue is the lack of trust.”

In his first public comments on the shooting, President Felipe Calderón, speaking Tuesday at a security forum attended by the American ambassador, Anthony Wayne, promised a thorough investigation.

“Be it from negligence, lack of training, lack of trust, complicity, these acts cannot be permitted and they are being investigated absolutely rigorously,” Mr. Calderón said.

The presence of C.I.A. employees, and indeed all American operatives, on Mexican soil has long been a prickly subject here.

In his nearly six years in office, Mr. Calderón has allowed a much larger role for American counternarcotics operations, including the use of unarmed American drones deep in Mexican territory. C.I.A. operatives and retired American military personnel have also worked with American law enforcement agencies and the Mexican military on training and intelligence-gathering.But Mexico has ruled out allowing the Americans to carry out arrests or deploy troops on its soil, and even their limited role has provoked a political outcry over whether the nation’s sovereignty has been put in jeopardy.

Lawmakers, instigated by the left, have hauled Mexican government officials before Congress for sometimes testy hearings and after the newspaper La Jornada first reported the C.I.A. involvement on Tuesday, some politicians said they would ask for a thorough explanation of the American role here.

“It’s is time to speak clearly and for us to know what institutions are intervening in what specific way in our country in regard to security,’ said Iris Vianey Mendoza, a senator from the left-leaning Party of the Democratic Revolution.

The office of Enrique Peña-Nieto, who won Mexico’s presidential election in July and has promised to maintain close ties with American law enforcement agencies, declined to comment.

The shooting was reminiscent of an attack on American immigration and customs agents last year in which one was fatally shot and another wounded when their embassy sport utility vehicle was ambushed on a highway north of Mexico City. A Mexican man was extradited and is awaiting trial on murder charges in Washington.

This latest episode has caused Mexicans to reflect on the quality of the federal police force, which had achieved growing respect but which has been tarnished by recent corruption scandals.

“The thing that really worries me,” said Gabriel Guerra, a political analyst who has worked with the three major parties here, “is that we are seeing the unraveling of what was supposed to be the main achievement in the fight against organized crime, which was the creation of a trustworthy national police.”