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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | September 2005 
U.S. Asks Mexican Officials Not to Visit New Orleans Because of Security Concerns
 Associated Press
| | David Jackson Jr, 82, is rescued from his house by New Orleans Drug Enforcement Agency and U.S. Army medics in the ninth ward of New Orleans September 8, 2005, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters) |
Mexico City – U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asked Mexican officials not to visit the city of New Orleans because she could not guarantee their safety, officials said Thursday.
Ruben Aguilar, spokesman for President Vicente Fox, said the request came in a phone call Wednesday between Rice and Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez.
"The government of the United States is just not able at this moment to offer the security arrangements its normally extends in such situations to visiting officials," Aguilar quoted Rice as telling Derbez.
Armed gangs that have been seen roaming New Orleans since the hurricane hit have occasionally opened fire on police and relief workers.
Eager to provide disaster assistance to the United States, Mexico sent an Army convoy and a Navy ship carrying aid to areas affected by Katrina. An estimated 140,000 Mexican citizens live in the area, 10,000 of them in New Orleans.
"We agreed that this is not the right moment for myself or any other high-ranking officials to visit the zone," Derbez said. "They are just now getting the situation back in order in New Orleans." |
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