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)
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Source: Voice of America
.