As I've written on this blog, the US Embassy in Mexico City is a fortress, an ugly one that mars the elegant avenue on which it sits with all kinds of fencing and barbed wire and guards armed with automatic weapons and control points and concrete blockades, etc. etc. etc. You only get a hint of the fortress in this picture from today's EL UNIVERSAL. The Embassy doesn't like anyone taking photos.
WELLLLL...
The bad guys got in anyway.
The headline in EL UNIVERSAL: Spy Easily Outwits US Security
The article (my translation):
The security measures in the US Embassy [in Mexico city], considered by Washington to be among the toughest in the world, were violated in a very simple way by Felipe, a spy for the Beltran Levya drug cartel [one of the biggest].
Felipe, as he is identified as a protected witness, who provoked the investigation by the Subprocuraduría de Investigación Especializada en Delincunecia Organizada (Mexican department of investigation into organized crime] into the penetration of the Embassy infiltrated it by obtaining employment at the Embassy by means the employment application the diplomatic mission maintains on its internet site.
According to documents pertaining to the investigation which EL UNIVERSAL has in its possession, after discovering that there was a job opening for a person with his background -- ex agent of Interpol--, "he presented his application, his curriculum vitae, went to an interview, and was hired."
The spy became a staff member as a criminal investigator in the office of the United States Marshal's Service. His work consisted of capturing information from Mexican authorities about fugitives abroad.
The Beltrán Levya brothers asked him for information about their accomplices and for data on the US Drug Enforcement Agency in Mexico.
Before he began his job, the Mexican Senate gave permission in October, 2007 for the former Mexican agent to lend his services to a foreign government.
Felipe, as he is identified as a protected witness, who provoked the investigation by the Subprocuraduría de Investigación Especializada en Delincunecia Organizada (Mexican department of investigation into organized crime] into the penetration of the Embassy infiltrated it by obtaining employment at the Embassy by means the employment application the diplomatic mission maintains on its internet site.
According to documents pertaining to the investigation which EL UNIVERSAL has in its possession, after discovering that there was a job opening for a person with his background -- ex agent of Interpol--, "he presented his application, his curriculum vitae, went to an interview, and was hired."
The spy became a staff member as a criminal investigator in the office of the United States Marshal's Service. His work consisted of capturing information from Mexican authorities about fugitives abroad.
The Beltrán Levya brothers asked him for information about their accomplices and for data on the US Drug Enforcement Agency in Mexico.
Before he began his job, the Mexican Senate gave permission in October, 2007 for the former Mexican agent to lend his services to a foreign government.
Obviously, there's more to come.