MEXICO CITY, (Reuters) – Mexican Interior Minister Francisco Blake was killed in a helicopter crash yesterday, a blow to the government as it fights powerful drug cartels.
Television images showed the scattered wreckage of the helicopter on a green hillside south of the capital where Blake and the seven others on board were killed.
President Felipe Calderon said conditions were cloudy when the helicopter came down so that an accident looked probable.
But in a televised address, he said no explanations for the crash could be ruled out as he paid tribute to Blake, calling him “a great Mexican”.
“The investigations will be exhaustive and will consider all the possible hypotheses,” Calderon said.
Mexico is locked in a brutal conflict against drug cartels that has killed 45,000 people in the last five years and Blake was a key member of Calderon’s security team.
Locals near the crash site, a remote area only accessible by dirt roads, said the weather was poor when Blake’s helicopter fell from the sky yesterday morning.
“We could hear the motor, which didn’t sound good,” said farmer Humberto Ramirez from the village of Caserio de Cortez, about 1.5 km (1 mile) away. “We couldn’t see where it came down.”
Blake is the second interior minister under Calderon to be killed in an air crash. The previous one three years earlier was declared an accident. Ironically, Blake paid tribute to that very predecessor in a final tweet on his Twitter account. As interior minister, Blake was responsible for helping Calderon implement his strategy against drug gangs, as well as negotiating with opposition parties in Congress. Lawmakers held a minute’s silence as a mark of respect for Blake.
LAST TWEET
Mexico’s peso and its IPC stock index lost ground yesterday after Blake’s death. The peso firmed again after Calderon said an accident looked likely.
