Wednesday, 5 April 2000
By Ignacio Ibarra
The Arizona Daily Star
http://www.azstarnet.com/public/dnews/000405tunnel.html
NOGALES, Ariz. - Nogales police officers and Mexican soldiers had a brief armed confrontation yesterday in a storm tunnel that runs under the border just east of the downtown port of entry.
Police Sgt. Eduardo Rosas said the confrontation in the tunnel beneath Robins Avenue and International Street was one of the most intense he's experienced in 18 years with the department, and it could easily have resulted in tragedy.
"A sneeze or someone dropping a weapon down there could have set it off. We were standing there with guns pointed at each other's heads. If there had been a shootout at that range, I don't think there would have been many of us left," said Rosas.
Mexican Consul spokesman Roberto Burgos in Nogales confirmed the incident and said the confrontation occurred on U.S. territory. He praised the Nogales police and the soldiers involved.
"They responded prudently and professionally and lowered their weapons, therefore avoiding a more serious confrontation," he said.
Col. Arturo Martinez of the Nogales, Sonora, garrison acknowledged that his soldiers ran into police officers in the tunnels. But, speaking by phone from the garrison, Martinez said the meeting was not tense.
''When our personnel went into the tunnels in the morning, they encountered police officers soldering,'' Martinez said. "Both groups identified themselves. ... Each group returned.''
Rosas said the incident began at about 5 a.m when five members of the Police Department's special response team dressed in protective uniforms and armed with submachine guns entered the tunnel to secure it before a public works crew entered to make repairs to the metal grates installed to prevent illegal entry by drug and people smugglers.
Rosas said the Special Response Team headed by Lt. Ray Bermudez entered the tunnel through a manhole, where they unlocked a heavy metal door leading into the main tunnel.
At that point, Bermudez heard noises and saw movement and signaled to the others that there was someone beyond the door.
"As we opened the door we had our weapons drawn and all of a sudden we see weapons pointing at our faces anywhere from 1 foot to 5 feet away," said Rosas. "We were in a showdown and were yelling to these people (in Spanish) 'Police, put down your weapons,' and they're ordering us to put our weapons down."
Rosas said the initial confrontation lasted 10 to 15 seconds.
He said some of the weapons used by the police officers are equipped with a light, allowing the officers to see that the men across from them were wearing green fatigues. When they asked the men to identify themselves, they said they were members of the Mexican army.
They told the officers that they were in the tunnel searching for illegal immigrants, and beyond them the officers could see about 30 people, including one woman, sitting down against the wall of the tunnel.
He said the city work crew then entered the tunnel and began welding patches over the holes in the grating.
About 10 minutes into the incident, the Mexican soldiers ordered the migrants out of the tunnel.
He said as the welders worked, the Nogales officers and Mexican soldiers continued their silent faceoff, with their rifles lowered and pistols holstered, throughout the 15 to 20 minutes that it took to complete the repairs.
Rosas said that on other occasions the Special Response Team has encountered Mexican police and Grupo Beta officers without serious problems. This was the first time to his knowledge that they had encountered the Mexican military in the tunnels.
Reporter Tim Steller contributed to this report.