See other Dead Constitution Articles
Title: U.S. funding Mexico's wiretaps
Source:
Star-Telegram (L.A. Times)
URL Source: http://www.star-telegram.com/279/story/114338.html
Published: May 25, 2007
Author: SAM ENRIQUEZ
Post Date: 2007-05-25 17:25:28 by aristeides
Keywords: None
Views: 140
Comments: 10
U.S. funding Mexico's wiretaps By SAM ENRIQUEZ MEXICO CITY -- Mexico is expanding its ability to tap telephone calls and e-mail using money from the U.S. government, a move that underlines how the country's conservative government is increasingly willing to cooperate with U.S. on law enforcement. The expansion comes as President Felipe Calderon is pushing to amend Mexico's constitution to allow officials to tap phones without a judge's approval in some cases. Mexican authorities have been able to wiretap most telephone conversations and tap into e-mail for years, but the new $3 million Communications Intercept System being installed by Mexico's Federal Investigative Agency would expand its reach. The system will allow authorities to track cellphone users as they travel, according to the contract specifications. It would include extensive storage capacity and allow authorities to identify callers by voice. The system, scheduled to begin operation within the next month, was paid for by the U.S. State Department and sold by Verint Systems, a politically connected company based in Melville, N.Y., that specializes in electronic surveillance. Documents describing the upgrade suggest that the U.S. government could have access to information derived from the surveillance. Officials of both governments declined to comment on that possibility. "It is a government of Mexico operation, funded by the U.S.," said Susan Pittman, of the U.S. State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. Questions about its use should be directed to Mexico, she said. Calderon's office declined to comment. But the U.S. government's contract specifications say the system is designed to allow both governments to "disseminate timely and accurate, actionable information to each country's respective federal, state, local, private and international partners." Calderon has lobbied for more authority to use electronic surveillance against drug smuggling. Already this year, drug wars have cost hundreds of lives and threatened Calderon's ability to govern. It's unclear how broad a net the new surveillance system would cast: Mexicans speak regularly by phone, for example, with millions of relatives living in the U.S. Those conversations appear to be fair game for both governments. Within the U.S., legal experts say that if prosecutors have access to Mexican wiretaps, they could use the information in U.S. courts. U.S. Supreme Court decisions have held that Fourth Amendment protections against illegal wiretaps do not apply outside the U.S., particularly if the surveillance is conducted by another country, said Georgetown University law professor David Cole. Mexico's telecommunications monopoly, Telmex, controlled by Carlos Slim, the world's second-wealthiest person, has not received official notice of the new system that will intercept its electronic signals, a spokeswoman said this week. "Telmex is a firm that always complies with laws and rules set by the Mexican government," she said. Calderon recently asked Mexico's Congress to amend the constitution and allow federal prosecutors to conduct searches and secretly record conversations among people suspected of what the government defines as serious crimes. His proposal would eliminate the current requirement that prosecutors gain approval from a judge before installing any wiretap. Calderon says the legal changes are needed in the battle against drug gangs. But others argued that the proposal undermines constitutional protections and opens the door to the type of domestic spying that has plagued many Latin American countries.
Los Angeles Times
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 9.
#1. To: aristeides (#0)
Sigh. So much for escaping the police state by fleeing to Mexico.
Yep. It wasn't on my list, but now it really isn't on my list. It's unclear how broad a net the new surveillance system would cast: Mexicans speak regularly by phone, for example, with millions of relatives living in the U.S. Those conversations appear to be fair game for both governments.
The closer a nation is to the US border, the more disinformation is going to be desiminated about it. 99% of all of the things I believed about Mèxico before I got here were nothing but lies. 99% of the things each of you believe about Mèxico are probaly lies. Including the GENERAL problems that gringos have with the Mèxican police. Just ain`t so. 99% of the things you believe about Canada are also lies. How do I know this? Because you would be surprised at the number of Canadians who live here.... and some of the tales they tell about Canada. For instance, did you know that Canada has always had the worst free speech laws in the so-called free world? At least as bad as Hitlerized Germany. The frank difference between the US and Mèxico? Mèxicans do not put up with the BS that Americans do; they will, and do, take to the streets.... and more than a few cops have been killed in the process. And when you speak of a free press, well, more jounalists have been killed in Mèxico than just about any other nation I know of, although not much is said about that in general. Mèxicans are also well aware that most of the corruption in Mèxico has flowed south from the states, and that most of the interference in Mèxican affairs has always come from the north. That being said, there are times when I wonder if I should have moved further south.... pretty much too late for that; I like my wife too much and she will never leave Mèxico. What many Americans have trouble understanding is that Mèxicans are just as proud about being Mèxican as Americans are about being US citizens. Everything else being equal, my wife and I have spoken about moving much further into the interior of Mèxico once she is retired from teaching.
There are no replies to Comment # 9. End Trace Mode for Comment # 9.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#2. To: bluedogtxn (#1)
#3. To: robin, bluedogtxn (#2)
Yep. It wasn't on my list, but now it really isn't on my list.
#9. To: richard9151 (#3)
The Washington Post; Aug 3, 1996; Molly Moore; 615 Words Mexi can federal police have arrested ... publicly against corruption he said he ... plainclothes federal police officers as ... a book on Mexican drug trafficking ... reporters about corruption in the attorney ... north-central Mexican city of San ... that federal police agents ...
AP Worldstream; Jan 17, 2003; MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer; 487 Words ... Dateline: MEXICO CITY Mexican army troops and police inspectors raided ... federal anti-drug police in 11 of Mexico ... said over 1,000 police agents are under investigation for corruption. The massive anti-corruption raid came after ... recent years of police protecting drug ... as ...
Internet Securities; Jul 9, 2003; 190 Words ... Inc. via COMTEX) -- The Mexican public considers that it is a priority to eradicate corruption in police organizations, revealed ... and you could eliminate corruption, what organization would ... that they would eradicate corruption in police organizations.Peter Eigen ... the public ... .
The Washington Post; Mar 6, 1992; Edward Cody; 1,251 Words ... a five-year police veteran who ... of the petty corruption that has plagued ... Residents of the Mexican capital have ... number of other policemen have begun to ... denounce the corruption that they say ... over the years, police corruption has produced ... complaints of ...
AP Worldstream; Apr 11, 2002; ARTURO SALINAS, Associated Press Writer; 458 Words ... Mexico The police officers ... and federal police stormed a ... at a state police academy in ... Tijuana's police chief _ to ... many as 120 police were detained ... Fox's biggest corruption crackdowns ... weeks after Mexican authorities ... combating corruption, Baja ...
The Washington Post; Jun 26, 1989; William Branigin; 984 Words ... exposing a tale of corruption, drug trafficking, larceny ... country's feared secret police force. The revelations ... housecleaning in the Mexico City police department, which became ... within the Mexico City police department in December ... columnist. The secret police unit, an arm of ...
The Washington Post; Sep 17, 1996; Molly Moore; 702 Words ... new federal police commander ... two of his police agents were ... Tijuana federal police force just ... critic of corruption among his ... violence of the Mexican drug wars ... veteran of the Mexican federal police force, was ... Considering police failures to ... in jail ... .
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Oct 6, 1996; DANA CALVO; 650 Words ... for the federal police at 2 a.m.? The ... But experts and Mexican officials say ... federally trained police officers. They ... admitted that corruption in Mexico's federal ... protect the public. "Police forces are not ... state and federal police made it possible ... they were fired ... .
AP Worldstream; Apr 11, 2002; ARTURO SALINAS, Associated Press Writer; 588 Words ... Mexico The police officers ... and federal police stormed a ... at a state police academy in ... one city police from Tijuana ... ministerial police were flown ... were Tecate Police Chief Jesus ... the Tijuana Police, Carlos Edmundo ... ministerial police, Mario Anaya; the state ...
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Dec 6, 1998; JULIA PRESTON; 557 Words ... crime in the capital and other major Mexican cities has surged out of control while police forces, disabled by decades of corruption, have all but collapsed. So rare is it for the capital's regular police officers to stop a crime that they ... crimes by crooks posing as private policemen. "We ...
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Apr 5, 1998; MOLLY MOORE; 800 Words ... two undercover police officers. As the Guanajuato state police officers leveled ... anti-kidnapping police unit from the ... agents while the police commander made ... nearby state, police caught the same ... suffered during police torture, according ... charges filed by Mexican ...
Chicago Sun-Times; Aug 1, 2000; 383 Words ... radically transform Mexico's corrupted police and judiciary and demilitarize its ... unify and professionalize Mexico's many police forces and a new federal prosecutor general's office that would replace the police and judicial functions of the troubled ... Chinese the government is acting to stem ...
Journal of the Southwest; Dec 22, 2003; Morris, Stephen D.; 14,160 Words ... helping of news about corruption ... culture of corruption- -defined ... opinions about corruption and participation ... culture of corruption is generally ... culture and corruption. One approach ... culture of corruption as the outcome ... political corruption; the other ... gives ...
The Dallas Morning News (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service); Jan 17, 2003; 710 Words ... MEXICO CITY _ Mexican army units ... of rampant corruption. The action ... on dirty police officers ... investigators and police officers ... systemic police corruption that has ... Sinaloa state police. His brother ... illegal drugs, Mexican traffickers ... latest ...
Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service; Jan 17, 2003; Sandoval, Ricardo; 710 Words ... MEXICO CITY _ Mexican army units ... of rampant corruption. The action ... on dirty police officers ... investigators and police officers ... systemic police corruption that has ... Sinaloa state police. His brother ... illegal drugs, Mexican traffickers ... latest ...
The Washington Post; Jul 17, 1997; Molly Moore; 500 Words The editor of a Mexican newspaper that has aggressively ... drug trafficking and government corruption was gunned down in front of his ... hits by drug traffickers, but police said no arrests have been made ... publishing sensitive stories involving corruption and drug trafficking, is the 23rd ...
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Mar 13, 1998; DOUGLAS FARAH and MOLLY MOORE; 1,093 Words ... 1996, as Mexican drug cartels ... five senior Mexican officers ... the largest Mexican drug trafficking ... other north Mexican towns, were ... U.S. and Mexican officials ... failure on corruption and lack ... said the Mexican government ... full cost of Mexican operations ... or ...
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Apr 16, 2004; DUANE DUDEK; 714 Words Cor ruption does its job in Mexican film By DUANE DUDEK Journal Sentinel ... the same story might be told by a Mexican filmmaker. That this hasn't happened yet cannot be blamed on the state of Mexican, or even Latin American, cinema, which ... modern films opens today with the Mexican satire "La ...
The Washington Post; Dec 14, 1997; John Ward Anderson; Molly Moore; 2,310 Words ... underscores the corruption crisis permeating ... pressure to curb corruption, the judiciary ... injustice -- corruption," said Jose ... Meanwhile, the Mexican attorney ... misconduct and corruption charges against ... powerful Mexicans from all ... the chief police investigator ... experts ...
Internet Securities; Jul 9, 2001; 141 Words ... Illicit gains by corrupt Mexican officials total roughly ... Victor Zorilla Vargas, of Mexican employers association Coparmex, said that corruption each year costs Mexico ... PriceWaterhouseCoopers' Diaz said corruption among Mexican government officials ranges the full gamut - from ...
Replies to Comment # 9.