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Los
Angeles Times
Mexico confirms confrontation with Border
Patrol agents
Two
armed Mexican soldiers crossed into Arizona in January and
faced off with the U.S. officers.
By
Richard A. Serrano and Tracy Wilkinson
April
1, 2014
WASHINGTON
— Two heavily armed, camouflaged Mexican soldiers
crossed 50 yards inside Arizona in January and drew their guns against
U.S.
Border Patrol agents who confronted them in a tense standoff, according
to
documents obtained by The Times/Tribune Washington Bureau.
U.S.
officials said it was one of nearly two dozen border
incursions by Mexican soldiers into southern Arizona in the last four
years.
FOR
THE RECORD: Border incident: A headline in an earlier version
of this online article stated that Mexican officials admitted that two
Mexican
soldiers were in a standoff with U.S. Border Patrol agents. There was
no
admission of culpability.
The
Jan. 26 confrontation, described in a Border Patrol foreign
military incursion report and confirmed in a separate letter from U.S.
Customs
and Border Protection Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske, ended when the
Mexican
soldiers retreated back over the border after U.S. agents — who also
drew their
weapons — summoned assistance. The soldiers, who misidentified
themselves to
border agents, claimed to be pursuing drug smugglers, documents show.
U.S.
officials characterized the incident as one of the most
serious incursions in recent years. Though gunfire was averted, the
35-minute
confrontation underscored the continuing friction between the U.S. and
Mexico
when it comes to policing the often chaotic and violent Southwest
border. It
also raised questions among some U.S. officials about whether the
Mexican
soldiers were chasing drug smugglers, as they claimed, or protecting
cartels as
they used drug routes to Arizona...
Read
the rest of the aricle at the Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-border-mexico-20140402,0,878301.story#axzz2yNxBrK9s
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