Mexican press focus on British cavers

Out from the cave, into detention

The case of the British pot-holers rescued from a Mexican cave continues to make front-page news in Latin America's most populous country, with newspapers playing up the diplomatic spat between the two sides.

But numerous contradictions emerge, with suggestions the Britons might have been spies and could receive up to 18 months in prison contrasting with reports of a lack of evidence of any wrongdoing.

"President unhappy with British response", reads the main front-page headline in El Sol de Mexico.

"Diplomatic relations between Mexico and Great Britain have become even more tense after Mexico sent a second note to London demanding a satisfactory explanation in the case of the military men rescued from a Puebla cave," says the El Sol story.

Deal more firmly with London MPs quoted in La Jornada

The paper quotes President Vicente Fox as saying: "There has been a response, but frankly, it's far from satisfactory."

Spying allegations

A headline in Excelsior proclaims: "To account, the 12 Britons implicated in the Puebla Case."

The leftist La Jornada carries a headline "Possibility the British in Cuetzalan were involved in espionage", quoting a member of parliament.

La Jornada says MPs are putting pressure on President Fox "to deal more firmly with London" over the case.

The parliamentary foreign affairs committee is planning an "urgent resolution demanding that the government of Vicente Fox takes a firmer line with Great Britain to get a clear explanation about the investigations undertaken by the army, air force and navy personnel of the European nation in Cuetzalan", the daily reports.

One MP, Arturo Robles, of the powerful Revolutionary Institutional Party or PRI, is quoted as saying "it could have been espionage, similar to that suffered by the Mexican government representative at the UN, who was spied on during the build up to the Iraq war".

Speleology comes from a field which can be considered touristic Government official in El Universal

In another report, La Jornada quotes a senior local government official as saying the case "clearly shows the failure of the national security system designed to safeguard our sovereignty and territorial integrity".

It also reports that the federal authorities are devising a "preventative programme designed to investigate foreigners arriving in tourist areas in the region so as to avoid illicit acts".

The apparent confusion over Mexico's stand is revealed in a La Jornada report quoting an official as saying that while the immigration authorities could decree immediate deportation and a three-year ban on returning to Mexico, the judicial authorities could impose a fine of three million pesos (270,000 dollars) and up to 18 months in prison.

No evidence

El Universal reports that "the 13 English explorers" are being put in the hands of the prosecutor general while "a detailed examination is carried out of the diverse instruments they brought into our country to carry out their research".

"The group which entered with tourist visas confessed they were speleologists," the paper writes. "Nine of them told the authorities they were from the military."

No evidence of illicit activities Lawyer in El Universal

El Universal quotes a government official as telling reporters that "speleology comes from a field which can be considered touristic".

Another official confirms that the zone "is not rich in radio-active materials, thus rejecting the possibility the group was searching for uranium deposits".

And a lawyer for the department of organized crime is quoted as saying the authorities have so far found "no evidence of illicit activities".

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.