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Mexico’s
Secretary Of The Interior And Drug Czar Killed In Helicopter Crash By Mike Mitchell |
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November 12, 2011 - Mexico’s Secretary of the Interior
Jose Francisco Blake Mora died on Friday in a helicopter
crash along with eight other people just outside Mexico
City when his helicopter an Aerospatiale Super Puma
crashed under heavy fog conditions in a mountainous area
of Chalco. Mora was Mexico's top cabinet secretaries and a key figure in the country's fight against drug cartels and corruption in the country. Mora had departed from a military base in Mexico for a meeting of prosecutors in Cuernavaca, Morelos. Ten minuets after takeoff the Aerospatiale Super Puma disappeared from radar. It was reported that the helicopter had undergone maintenance but was under constant guard from the country's equivalent of the Secret Service. |
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Reports
indicate that the four-bladed twin-engine medium size helicopter
had departed Mexico City just before 9 PM, a few minutes late
due to dense fog, has investigators speculating that visibility
was a major factor of the collision.
Moments
later the operators of the Control Center Navigation Services in
Mexican Air Space, known as SENEAM, visualize the helicopter on
radar departing toward the southeast. At 8:55 PM the helicopter
dropped off radar, at that time the weather conditions were
layers of clouds at low altitude and reduced visibility.
Mexico’s President has requested the assistance from the
National Transportation Safety Board.
This is
the second time that an interior minister from Mexico has been
killed in a plane crash. In 2008, Secretary of the Interior Juan
Camilo Mourino and 13 others were killed when their Learjet 45
crashed into an up-scale city street during rush hour in Mexico
City just a half mile from the Presidential Residence. Mora was a key figure in the fight against drugs and advocating Mexico’s President Felipe Calderón's drug policy. Mora was constantly traveling to meet with Mexico’s governors and victims of the drug war. It was also reported Mexico President Felipe Calderón had plans to travel in the helicopter that Mora was killed in, and was awaiting the flight until the accident occurred. Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano said "I was saddened to learn of the crash that took the life of Mexican Interior Secretary Francisco Blake Mora, along with seven others. Their families are in my thoughts and prayers. Secretary Blake Mora was a strong partner in our common fight against terrorism and transnational crime. His loss will be felt on both sides of the border. President Obama and the Department of Homeland Security remain committed to continuing our close relationship with Mexico in order to enhance the security of both nations." |