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Enemy Aliens

Once again, British subjects were apprehended in another country by America's allies on the war on terror. This time however, the detainees appear to be headed to somewhere other than Guantanamo Bay. The reason is because the prisoners are British army covert operations. Managing to get themselves trapped in the Alpazat cave system, the "cavers" refused to be rescued by Mexican authorities. And now of course, the Mexican government does not want to let them go. The British accuse the Mexicans of not releasing them quickly and responsibly. The Federales accuse the Ministry of Defence of violating the terms of a tourist visa.

But the accusations leveled by the Mexican press is a bit more than that. There are claims that gas sensor equipment was being used not to look for radon...a heavy noble gas...but that which would find uranium. However, even if they found uranium, it is not clear what they would do with it. Instead, this imbroglio continues largely because Mexican President Vincente Fox wants to make a message: this is not Afghanistan. His country is not destined to be another proxy battleground for "the war on terror". After all, caves store things. It's easy to hide that which you do not want to be found. And judging by how it turns out, if the MoD was looking it sure didn't find anything to justify the expedition.

But there's one other question left. Jonathan Sims, one of the six cavers made the following quote: "There appears to be some bad news in Mexico bubbling under. I think it has been a way of diverting the press around from internal problems." Certainly if it's problems about being soft on illegal immigration to Mexico, a common complaint at the nation's border with Guatemala, those concerns look muted now.
posted by Thomas at 5:16 PM 0 comments