Pubdate: Thu, 22 Sep 2005
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2005 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  http://www.mercurynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390
Author: Morgan Lee, AP

MEXICAN OFFICIALS DIE IN COPTER CRASH

Deaths Of Anti-Drug Chief, Eight Others Blamed On Weather

MEXICO CITY - A Cabinet minister who helped lead Mexico's anti-drug 
fight, his deputy and seven others died in a helicopter crash in the 
mountains west of Mexico's capital Wednesday. There were no survivors.

While one official aboard the craft had received death threats from a 
drug trafficker, authorities said the crash appeared to be an 
accident caused by poor visibility in dense cloud cover.

The helicopter, carrying Public Safety Secretary Ramon Martin Huerta, 
Federal Preventive Police Chief Tomas Valencia, five other passengers 
and a crew of two, had taken off from a military parade ground in Mexico City.

The Bell 412 helicopter, which can carry up to 16 people, was headed 
to an event at the maximum-security La Palma prison, 35 miles west of 
Mexico City, when it was lost in dense fog and clouds.

"They all died in the line of duty," President Vicente Fox said in a 
televised address. His voice cracking with emotion, the president 
said, "I have lost not just a co-worker, but a close friend, Ramon."

The craft crashed into a wooded mountaintop about 11,200 feet high 
about 20 miles outside Mexico City.

"Everything appears to indicate that this was an unfortunate 
accident, caused by adverse weather conditions," the Interior 
Department said in a press statement. "Everything indicates the pilot 
lost visual contact with the ground and crashed into the top of a mountain."

Mario Martinez, a pilot who was following in another helicopter, told 
local media that Huerta's craft had disappeared into a dense bank of 
clouds and was lost to view.

"They put their lives at risk to lead our nation's fight against 
criminals and organized crime," Fox said. "They are heroes."

The burned wreckage of the helicopter was found by rescue crews after 
a search of several hours.

Mexican media outlets began speculating within hours of the 
helicopter's disappearance about the possible involvement of 
drug-trafficking groups.

The flight was on its way to a swearing-in ceremony for prison 
guards, the culmination of an effort to purge officials accused of 
corruption from a prison holding notorious Mexican drug gang leaders.

In addition to Huerta, the Bell helicopter carried a pilot, co-pilot, 
Valencia, officials from the Public Safety Department and Jose 
Antonio Bernal, an official from the country's National Human Rights 
Commission.

Bernal had been threatened in the past by a drug trafficker being 
held at La Palma prison, reportedly because the official refused to 
recommend greater privileges for the inmate.

Fox created the Public Safety Department after taking office in 2000, 
combining federal police forces overseeing prisons, highways and 
borders -- including the Federal Preventive Police, a force that 
includes soldiers assigned to police work such as crowd and riot control.

A trusted Fox ally, Huerta was appointed to lead the agency in August 
2004 after the previous secretary, Alejandro Gertz Manero, resigned 
to return to private life.
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman