wolit@rabbit.UUCP (08/26/83)
According to a story published by the Associated Press yesterday, at least two US-based cargo planes suspected of illegally importing electronic equipment into Mexico were shot down and destroyed by Mexican customs agents earlier this month. Both pilots, Bill Nelson, flying a DC-3, and William Humphries, in a Cessna 310, were unhurt. Nelson escaped across the border to the US, while Humphries is being held in a jail in Reynosa. The US Customs service in Houston confirmed that they supplied the Mexican government with information on the flights, under the terms of a 1976 agreement to reduce smuggling across the border! (Mexico is trying to get its citizens to buy domestically-produced electronic products, and has outlawed their import.) As a pilot whose patronage is always being sought by Mexico (they advertise heavily in flying magazines), as a US citizen who pays our government to protect OUR interests, and as one who believes that even those suspected of trying to sell TV sets deserve a fair trial before being shot, I am outraged by this. I am encouraging those who think likewise to do the following: Write to the US State Department, US Customs Service, and the Mexican Government protesting this incident. Write to your congressional representatives demanding an investigation, and punishment for those US officials responsible. Cancel any plans you may have for trips to Mexico (and let their Department of Tourism know why). Pilots are always screaming and kicking whenever the FAA wants to get us to paint numbers on our planes or talk to ATC on the radio. Let's see if we can get some action going to keep ourselves from becoming clay pigeons for our friends south of the border. Comments? Jan Wolitzky, BTL Murray Hill
Dave.Touretzky@CMU-CS-A@sri-unix.UUCP (09/04/83)
Our government asks the cooperation of other governments in preventing drugs from being smuggled into the US, and even in preventing citizens in foreign countries from producing drugs (e.g. poppy growers in Turkey, marijuana growers in Mexico.) If we want those foreign governments to cooperate with us, we should be willing to cooperate with them to prevent smuggling into their countries. Who's to say that smuggling dope is bad but smuggling TV sets is okay? There are several questions left unanswered by the report of the AP news article. Did the Mexicans shoot the smugglers down without warning, or did they shoot them down after all other methods of interception failed? Was the US aware that the Mexicans might shoot the smugglers down when it gave the information to the Mexican government? How did both pilots manage to escape without injury? Wolitzky's outrage might be justified, but it's hard to tell from the sketchy report of the incident provided. -- Dave Touretzky