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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!eagle!allegra!rabbit!wolit
From: wolit@rabbit.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.aviation
Subject: Mexico Shooting Down Suspected U.S. Smugglers
Message-ID: <1852@rabbit.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 26-Aug-83 16:48:12 EDT
Article-I.D.: rabbit.1852
Posted: Fri Aug 26 16:48:12 1983
Date-Received: Sun, 28-Aug-83 23:15:59 EDT
Organization: Bell Labs, Murray Hill
Lines: 40

According to a story published by the Associated Press yesterday,
at least two US-based cargo planes suspected of illegally importing
electronic equipment into Mexico were shot down and destroyed by
Mexican customs agents earlier this month.

Both pilots, Bill Nelson, flying a DC-3, and William Humphries, in a
Cessna 310, were unhurt.  Nelson escaped across the border to the US,
while Humphries is being held in a jail in Reynosa.

The US Customs service in Houston confirmed that they supplied the
Mexican government with information on the flights, under the terms of
a 1976 agreement to reduce smuggling across the border!  (Mexico is
trying to get its citizens to buy domestically-produced electronic
products, and has outlawed their import.)

As a pilot whose patronage is always being sought by Mexico (they
advertise heavily in flying magazines), as a US citizen who pays our
government to protect OUR interests, and as one who believes that even
those suspected of trying to sell TV sets deserve a fair trial before
being shot, I am outraged by this.  I am encouraging those who think
likewise to do the following:

	Write to the US State Department, US Customs Service, and the
	Mexican Government protesting this incident.

	Write to your congressional representatives demanding an
	investigation, and punishment for those US officials
	responsible.

	Cancel any plans you may have for trips to Mexico (and let
	their Department of Tourism know why).

Pilots are always screaming and kicking whenever the FAA wants to get
us to paint numbers on our planes or talk to ATC on the radio.  Let's
see if we can get some action going to keep ourselves from becoming
clay pigeons for our friends south of the border.

Comments?

	Jan Wolitzky, BTL Murray Hill