[La Jornada Editorial, Translated by Miguel Alvarado]

Mexicans have suddenly become suspects of terrorism in the eyes of Washington and local authorities. With that excuse, U.S. officials have launched an embarrassing and illegal campaign of control and intimidation at the Mexico City airport, imposed upon anybody who dares to visit the neighboring country. In addition, the Mexican Attorney General (PGR) sub secretary José Luis Santiago Vasconcelos recently admitted they are currently investigating the possibility of a terrorist attack at an airport, a fact that reveals the Mexican government’s compliance to the national security program deployed by George W. Bush.

So far, federal officials have declared that the ‘collaboration’ with U.S. agents at the airport seeks to deter possible terrorists from entering the United States. Yet, Santiago Vasconcelos’ statements tell a different story: it could be part of a strategy to validate the activitiy of U.S. law enforcement within our territory under the dubious premise that terrorists could be operating in Mexico. It would also appear that the federal government has acquired a case of Washington’s paranoia and because of fear, confusion or simple acquiescence to foreign demands, has started to consider its citizens, without distinction, as potential criminals. The proof lies in the discrepancy between the sub secretary comments that there is no evidence of terrorist plans in Mexico, and the hostile intrusion of U.S. officials upon Mexican travelers.

It was emphasized that, under no circumstances, foreign law enforcement agents would be allowed on mexican air carriers as a preventive measure against terrorist attacks. Yet, they were allowed, in a humiliating, arrogant and illegal decision -not on an airplane, but on mexican territory- at the airport of our capital. Why such contradiction, such disparity? How come the authorities allow such affront on Mexican travelers? Why such complacency when the law and the dignity of our country are being violated? Experts from the UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico) have declared the measure could constitute a crime, and the officials who authorized and tolerate such practices could become responsible.

At the heart of these events lies, ultimately, a premise that no one has been able to prove or even explain with clarity: the alleged presence in Mexico of terrorists determined to act against U.S. and Mexican interests. If such possibility was real, or even probable, supported by rigorous research and objective data, the enforcement of security measures in airports and other locations would proceed, certainly, under exclusive control of Mexican authorities, with strict adherence to the law and respect for civil liberties, and devoid of foreign intervention other than the agreements on collaboration signed between the U.S. and Mexico.

However, reality rejects such assumption: the screenings at the airport is focused on Mexican travelers who board domestic airplanes; American citizens and businesses are not subject to such scrutiny, as if the suspected terrorists were only Mexican, or as if they were forbidden from boarding foreign airplanes. The security measures deployed by Washington officials do not appear oriented to detect terrorists, but rather seem intended to criminalize Mexicans, forcing Mexico to adopt the Northern Empire’s security policies and to subjugate our society through fear and humiliation. This is a genuine assault launched against Mexico -a country historically committed to peace- and perpetrated in complicity by Mexican authorities and U.S. interventionist policy.

Is the federal government perhaps incapable of managing airport security? Is it overly suspicious of its own police and its society? If the Mexican government doesn’t share these concerns, why did it renounce its jurisdiction and relinquished its sovereignty? Why not inform with clarity, precision and professionalism what really takes place on matters of security? The vagueness and contradictions emanating from the authorities regarding such important matters are both exasperating and insulting to our nation. In addition, it’s rather astonishing that the Senate of the Republic -an entity enabled to consent upon and oversee Mexico’s foreign affairs- has not yet delivered a formal statement regarding these serious events, particularly since the Senate is a plural institution, not necessarily aligned with the PAN (National Action Party)-based government of Vicente Fox.

Whatever the case might be, we must demand that the activity of foreign agents at the airports of our country be stopped immediately, and that command be restored to competent Mexican authorities. No one in their right mind and adherence to law opposes the necessary vigilance against terrorism; but, on the same token, nobody can justify the current crisis of sovereignty and due process in this country. The concept that any measure is justified in order to avoid an eventual loss of life is skewed, because the respect of law and and civil liberties of the people will always remain the means to maintain peace, liberty and integrity of nations and individuals

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