Headlines, Latin America & the Caribbean

MEXICO: Expelled British Cavers Barred from Country for Two Years

Diego Cevallos

MEXICO CITY, Mar 30 2004 (IPS) - The Mexican government expelled 13 British cavers late Monday after their exploring activities in the country sparked a diplomatic row with London, in an episode that a local caver association described as ”embarrassing.”

The presence of the cavers made international headlines last week when they asked British rescue workers to help them out of a cave in which they were trapped when the waters unexpectedly rose due to heavy rainfall.

According to the Mexican government, the cave-mapping activities they were engaged in were not authorised by their tourist visas. Nine of the 13 men are members of the British military.

After the Attorney-General’s Office ruled that they had not done anything illegal, the National Migration Institute ordered the expulsion of the Britons, who will not be allowed to return to Mexico for two years.

”This was all just an absurd incident that had a foolish ending,” Ramón Espinasa, president of the Mexican Association of Underground Explorations, told IPS.

Mountain climber Ricardo Torres said he was embarrassed by the government’s reaction.

The decision to expel the 13 cavers came after they were detained and interrogated, and after two diplomatic notes were sent to London to demand explanations as to what the soldiers were doing in Mexico’s caves.

The local media speculated that the Britons were involved in military training in caves located near Cuetzalan, in a jungle area 320 kms northeast of the capital.

Local press reports also hypothesized that they were looking for gases and minerals used to produce atomic bombs – versions that were denied by the detainees as well as the British Embassy.

The cavers belong to the Combined Service Caving Association (CSCA), an organisation founded in the 1970s by members of the British military who explore caves all over the world. They have reportedly been helping to map out caves in Mexico for the past 18 years.

On its web site, the CSCA ”categorically denied the current speculation that the expedition members were searching for uranium, nuclear materials or anything of that nature.”

The association explained that ”The only thing they were looking for was a connection in the cave to join it up with another cave system to make it one of the longest cave systems in the world.

”Where the misunderstanding may have arisen is that they would have been checking for radon gas using dosimeters…Radon is a naturally occurring gas found in rock and is a hazard to health if found in large quantities. Many caving expeditions now check for radon gas. This, with the language barrier, may be leading to many misunderstandings.”

Espinasa agreed. ”There was no espionage involved here. They’re just soldiers who on their vacations come to do what they most like to do, and there is no secrecy involved.”

Mexican cavers have also taken part in the CSCA adventure expeditions, ”which obviously need maps to be drawn up, something that is not done for strictly scientific reasons, but because of the natural need to map out the routes,” he added.

British cavers who have practiced their hobby in Mexico in the past have apparently also done so under tourist visas.

”I’m ashamed at the scandal that has erupted around this case, because the reaction of the government and the politicians was out of proportion,” said Torres, one of the few Mexicans who has climbed Mt. Everest.

When President Vicente Fox demanded explanations from London about the presence of British soldiers in Mexico, the British government responded that it would look into the situation, but clarified that the cavers were part of a private group that carried out adventure expeditions.

The CSCA is backed by Britain’s Defence Ministry, but its activities are independent.

In the Mexican Congress, several legislators called for the immediate expulsion of the Britons under the suspicion that they were engaged in espionage.

”The activities of the British soldiers in the caves…violate our national sovereignty,” said Deputy Alberto Aguilar of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

Dozens of people had called the local media to protest the fact that foreign nationals were allowed to carry out such activities in Mexico, and to complain about the reaction of the Britons when it was reported that they were trapped in the caves.

The cavers had flown to Mexico and driven out to Cuetzalan in late February. Six of them were trapped on Mar. 18 when the entrance they used to get into the cave was flooded.

The press reported that they turned down offers of help from Mexican rescue workers and rejected contact with local journalists, before they were rescued on Mar. 25 by British specialists, under the watchful eyes of a swarm of TV and radio reporters.

But the CSCA stated on its web site that ”the issue about them refusing help from the Mexicans is absolutely incorrect. They were working with the Mexicans to prepare for an extraction.

”The Mexicans were absolutely fantastic and supportive to our team and should be credited for this”.

But, the statement goes on, the rescue involved cave diving, ”which is highly dangerous without the specialist knowledge, experience and equipment”.

For that reason, the Britons waited for two specialist divers from Britain who had ”actual dive experience in this particular system. Very few people in the world are experienced cave divers and even fewer have dived in the Cuetzalan systems.”

In addition, the CSCA explained, the cavers were prepared to ”sit it out for several more days”, as the expedition necessarily involved camping underground while the caves were mapped out.

After the rescue, the men were taken to a hospital for a check-up, accompanied by members of the Mexican military. They were then held in an immigration post in the capital until they were released Monday and escorted to the airport.

In Espinasa’s view, the visitors were engaged in sports and adventure activities for which a tourist visa should be enough.

”An unnecessary scandal has been kicked up, and the government has ended up looking bad in the eyes of foreign cavers, who see Mexico as an attractive destination,” said the president of the Mexican Association of Underground Explorations.