An almost breathless Alejandra Sota, Calderón's press secretary for national security affairs, was visibly emotional as she delivered the government's official notice about 12:30 p.m. today at a packed news conference in Los Pinos, Mexico's "White House." She said that the helicopter belonged to the presidential protection unit, and was in route from the Federal District to Cuernavaca, in the state of Morelos, on official business.
Three other undersecretaries of Calderón's administration were killed, together with four military officers who served as the crew and security detail. The helicopter wreckage was located in a remote area, with difficult access.
"At this tragic moment, our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims," Sota concluded.
President Calderón delivered a public statement this afternoon, in which he praised the dedicated public service of those killed. He described secretary Blake Mora, 45, as a "true Mexican patriot." Calderón said that in all probability the crash was simply an accident, but promised that it would be "exhaustively investigated" by experts.
Blake Mora was the second Calderón cabinet secretary to die in an aviation accident in the last 36 months. On November 4, 2008, Blake Mora's immediate predecessor in the same agency, Juan Camilo Mouriño Terrazo (photo below), was killed in a plane crash in Mexico City. In that accident, a government owned Learjet 45 carrying Mouriño Terrazo and eight others plowed into rush hour traffic, killing all aboard. The crash occurred in an up-scale Mexico City district, a half mile from the presidential residence at Los Pinos.
Presidents Calderón and Barack Obama were to have met in Honolulu this weekend at the Asian Pacific Economic Conference, but Calderón canceled this afternoon. The two presidents spoke by telephone shortly after Obama left Washington en route to Hawaii.
No comments:
Post a Comment