U.S. Spies Swarming in Tijuana

Tijuana’s daily, El Mexicano, reported in a front page story this week that the border city is rife with spies from the United States. “Espias de EU Operan en Tijuana” read the 2-inch tall headline appearing on newsstands throughout the city. “Spies from the United States operate in TJ”, in English.

The venerated Baja periodical quotes a source, who claims that “the spies are everywhere, like in a movie.” They are multilingual, they never carry documents, and some are even arrested and beaten by the police, ostensibly to “maintain cover,” but also as way to find out which police are colluding with criminal elements.

Agents, double-agents, multileveled intrigue, the article points out that espionage of all types goes on throughout Mexico, and that the U.S. agents operate under the sanction of Mexican officialdom, tracking the movements and activities of politicians, businessmen, law enforcement authorities and run-of-the-mill delinquents. Some known delinquents are allowed to continue their illegal activities in order that said activities may be monitored in the hopes of revealing a larger pattern of of criminal organization.

The agents are divided among those who analyze intelligence, those who hang in the streets tracking drug sales and the smuggling of human beings, some even regularly attending meetings with various TJ authorities in order to exchange information and decide upon strategy. The source could not provide specifics, but said the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency), FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), ICE (Immigration) and ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) are all represented among the U.S. espionage network.

The article went on to say that “as proof” of the connection between U.S. espionage activity and the Mexican government, a case was cited which occurred during a meeting in July, which coordinated efforts between the U.S. and Mexico in regard to the finding of and concomitant destruction of “narco-tunnels”. This effort, according to the article, will involve ICE, the Mexican army and a robot which will check out suspicious tunnels and tunneling activity along the border region.