U.S. drones over Mexico to track drug cartels

[News_Editor]

U.S. drones over Mexico to track drug cartels

2011-03-16 23:22:14 GMT+7 (ICT)

WASHINGTON (BNO NEWS) -- The United States has begun sending unarmed drones deep into Mexican territory to gather intelligence on major drug traffickers, the New York Times reported.

Mexican and American officials said that their cooperative efforts had been crucial to helping Mexico capture and kill at least 20 high-profile drug traffickers, including 12 in the last year alone. An American official said a Homeland Security drone helped Mexican authorities find several suspects linked to the killing of U.S. immigration agent Jaime Zapata. Pentagon, State Department, Homeland Security and Mexican officials declined to comment publicly about the introduction of drones.

The New York Times reported that the Pentagon had flown a number of flights over the past month using the Global Hawk drones - a spy plane that can fly higher than 60,000 feet with a multitude of sensors. They cannot be readily seen by drug traffickers or ordinary Mexicans on the ground.

The missions has been kept secret because of Mexican legal restraints and sensitivities over sovereignty, the officials said. They also said that Mexico asked the United States to use its drones since Mexico's unmanned aerial vehicles are not prepared for certain surveillance activities.

Lt. Col. Robert L. Ditchey, a Pentagon spokesman, said Tuesday that "the Department of Defense, in coordination with the State Department, is working closely with the Mexican military and supports their efforts to counter transnational criminal organizations," but did not comment specifically on the American drone flights.

President Obama and his Mexican counterpart, Felipe Calderón, formally agreed to continue the surveillance flights during a White House meeting on March 3. The two leaders also agreed to open a counter narcotics "fusion" center, the second such facility in Mexico.

In addition, the United States trains thousands of Mexican troops and police officers, collaborates with specially vetted Mexican security units, conducts eavesdropping in Mexico and upgrades Mexican security equipment and intelligence technology, according to American law enforcement and intelligence officials.

"It wasn't that long ago when there was no way the D.E.A. could conduct the kinds of activities they are doing now," said Mike Vigil, a retired chief of international operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration.

"And the only way they're going to be able to keep doing them is by allowing Mexico to have plausible deniability," he added, as cited by the newspaper.

Before the meeting at the White House, there were diplomatic tensions between both countries after State Department cables obtained by WikiLeaks reported criticism of the Mexican government by American diplomats. Then in February, after the killing of the U.S. agent, Mexican officials complained that the United States government paid attention to drug violence only when it took the life of an American citizen.

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