Homemade submarine full of cocaine seized off Mexico

[Kanastrous]

The most shocking part about that article is that Mexico has a navy.

Why exactly?

Americans like to dump on Mexico, for some reason.

Mexicans probably enjoy doing the same, to us.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

The Mexican Navy is actually larger than the United States navy, it just consists of 60 ton patrol boats which they for some reason decided to name and commission.

It has a Gearing class destroyer, an Edsall class destroyer escort, two Bronstein class frigates and four Knox class frigates, two missile boats, three amphibious assault ships, 31 offshore patrol vessels (The navy handles the same duties as the coastguard in Mexico, there's no unique coastguard), 60 coastal patrol craft, 17 CB 90 HMNs, and 32 auxiliaries. It is considered to have 589 commissioned vessels, but only because the Mexicans commission everything Example, the ARM-3 Armelnath. Which is basically a motorboat. Whereas to my knowledge the USN doesn't have any commissioned vessels smaller than 350 tons, and of course if you count every single thing in the navy that floats like the Mexicans do, has thousands of ships.

The Mexican navy is very good at what it does--which is stopping and fighting drug smugglers. And fairly reliable in that, whereas the Army's units are easily bought by the drug smugglers. It's a pity they just hounded it with sonar and forced it to surface, though, using it as target practice for the ASROC on a FRAMed Gearing or a Knox would have been much more fun!

[FSTargetDrone]

Hey, they have an air force, too!

I think they also arrived to help out in New Orleans before America did.

Mexico sent Naval and Army units:

Mexico Sends First-Ever Aid North

'Act Of Solidarity' Brings Supplies, Specialists To U.S.

MEXICO CITY, Sept. 7, 2005

(AP) Mexican army convoys and a navy ship laden with food, supplies and specialists traveled to the U.S. Wednesday to help in the Hurricane Katrina relief effort — a highly symbolic journey marking the first time Mexico's military has aided its powerful northern neighbor.

The convoy was expected to arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border Wednesday evening and cross into U.S. territory early Thursday, President Vicente Fox's office said.

Radio talk shows and newspapers in Mexico buzzed with excitement over news that this country, long on the receiving end of U.S. disaster relief, was sending a hurricane aid convoy north.

The convoy represents the first Mexican military unit to operate on U.S. soil since 1846, when Mexican troops briefly marched into Texas, which had separated from Mexico and joined the United States.

It included military specialists, doctors, nurses and engineers carrying water treatment plants, mobile kitchens, food and blankets.

"This is just an act of solidarity between two peoples who are brothers," said Fox's spokesman, Ruben Aguilar.

Army press office employee Francisco Aguilar said he did not have details of the convoy's precise location. It originally was scheduled to arrive in Houston to provide food for evacuees, but apparently had been rerouted to Dallas.

All of the convoy's participants will be unarmed. In July 2004, Mexican troops interrupted the funeral of a Mexican-born Marine killed in Iraq. They objected to the nonworking, ceremonial rifles carried by two Marines who came from the United States for the ceremony.

Mexico later apologized but said it has an obligation to enforce a ban on foreign troops carrying weapons in its territory.

The convoy has "a very high symbolic content," said Javier Oliva, a political scientist at Mexico's National Autonomous University. "This is a very sensitive subject, for historic and political reasons."

Large Mexican flags were taped to many of the 35 olive-green Mexican Army trucks and tractor trailers as they rumbled northward toward the border Wednesday.

The convoy includes two mobile kitchens that can feed 7,000 people a day, three flatbed trucks carrying mobile water-treatment plants and 15 trailers of bottled water, blankets and applesauce. The 195 Mexicans taking part include military engineers, doctors and nurses.

"This is the first time that the United States has accepted a military mission from Mexico" for such work, said Javier Ibarrola, a newspaper columnist who covers military affairs in Mexico.

The relief mission was controversial for some Mexican lawmakers, who said the president should have sought Senate approval before sending troops abroad. But the Fox administration said no such approval was needed for aid missions.

The government was planning to send a second, 12-vehicle aid convoy to the U.S. sometime this week and has sent a Mexican navy ship equipped with rescue vehicles and helicopters to the Mississippi coast.

The ship Papaloapan left the Gulf coast port of Tampico on Monday. Fox's office was unsure when it would arrive, but said it would dock about 30 miles south of Biloxi, Miss.

Americans like to dump on Mexico, for some reason.

Mexicans probably enjoy doing the same, to us.

I think a lot of people in the US see Mexico as just the place where Illegals come from. Mexico has its problems (poverty, drug crimes), of course, but it it is a large country with cosmopolitan cities, enjoys sophisticated technologies (not everywhere, mind you) and in many ways is a diverse, modern country. It's just not a country that has coastal resorts and jungle ruins.