- MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A
diplomatic rift between Britain and Mexico deepened on Friday when President
Vicente Fox refused to accept London's explanation of what a British military
group was doing in a Mexican cave system.
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- Fox said Britain had not clarified questions about the
six cave explorers, four of them members of the military, who were plucked
from a cavern late on Thursday after spending 11 days underground. Flood
waters trapped them in the caves.
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- ``We received a reply to our request from Britain, but
it is frankly unsatisfactory, we need more clarification about what this
was about,'' Fox told a news conference in Nicaragua, where he is on an
official visit.
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- The cavers had expected to fly to London on Friday, but
after a full day of questioning by immigration officers in Mexico City
they were to be held overnight while investigators determined if they had
violated any laws, immigration officials said.
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- ``They haven't finished yet, they just want to check
a few more things,'' said British Embassy representative Vijay Rangarajan,
saying the cavers could leave Mexico as soon as Saturday.
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- Mexico's attorney general's office said it was investigating
media reports that the cavers were scouting for deposits of potentially
radioactive materials.
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- ``We do not have any indication up to this point that
indicates illicit activity,'' Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, deputy attorney
general, told a news conference.
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- The Energy Ministry later said its experts found normal
levels of radioactivity at the caves. ``There is no scientific reason to
believe the zone is rich in radioactive material,'' the ministry said.
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- Mexico does not allow foreign military exercises on its
soil.
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- The Mexican government is upset it was not told in advance
of the presence of the expedition, most of whose members belonged to an
enthusiasts' group made up of active and retired British soldiers and civilians
in the Ministry of Defense.
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- Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez spoke in strong
terms. ``We are not going to tolerate on this occasion that no one explains
to us exactly what their citizens were doing here,'' he said in comments
published in the Mexican press.
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- RELATIONS SENSITIVE
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- Mexico's relations with Britain were already strained
over allegations that Britain helped the United States spy on Mexico's
U.N. mission in the run-up to the Iraq war.
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- After receiving medical checks at a military hospital,
the cavers were brought in minibuses for questioning in Mexico City on
Friday, accompanied by trucks bearing rifle-toting members of a special
police force.
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- The cavers were trapped by surging underground flood
waters two days into a exploration trip in the Cuetzalan caves in Puebla
province.
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- The British Embassy had originally described them as
being on a scientific mission and later clarified this to say they were
mapping the cave complex, one of the most extensive in the world.
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- Fox had asked on Wednesday for a ``swift'' explanation
of what the foreign soldiers were doing in the caves.
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- Britain said its minister for Latin America, Bill Rammell,
met Mexico's ambassador in London on Friday afternoon and thanked him for
help in getting the group out safely.
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- ``We respect the Mexican authorities' need to clarify
their immigration status,'' Rammell said, adding that he hoped the incident
``could be resolved as quickly as possible.''
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- Copyright 2004 Reuters Ltd.
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