GOM BACKING OFF PURCHASE OF RUSSIAN FIGHTER AIRCRAFT

SECRET S E C R E T MEXICO 000380 SIPDIS SIPDIS FOR A/S SHANNON FROM AMBASSADOR E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/24/2017 TAGS: PREL, MASS, MARR, ENRG, MX, RS SUBJECT: GOM BACKING OFF PURCHASE OF RUSSIAN FIGHTER AIRCRAFT REF: A. MEXICO 6677 B. SECSTATE 6686 Classified By: AMBASSADOR ANTONIO O. GARZA JR FOR REASONS 1.4 (B,D) 1. (S) In response to reftel demarche the Ambassador raised U.S. concerns about a possible Mexican Navy purchase of Russian fighter aircraft with (in separate conversations) Ambassador-designate to the U.S. Arturo Sarukhan, Presidential Counselor Juan Camilo Mourino, Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa, Economic Secretary Eduardo Sojo and Treasury Secretary Augustin Carstens. In each conversation the Ambassador stressed our interest in working with the GOM on its security concerns, our apprehension that this expensive purchase would complicate North American security cooperation without significantly enhancing Mexico's security priorities, and our intent to maintain a dialog with the GOM up until a final decision is taken. 2. (S) On January 24 DAO officers met with Mexican Navy counterparts to inquire about the status of the purchase and offer reftel (b) visits. The Mexican Naval Chief of Staff confirmed to DAO that the purchase had been cancelled because of lack of resources. He and his team considered reftel (b) visits, and indicated that they might be interested in the first offer of a team to discuss air defense strategies for the Gulf of Mexico, following up on maritime defense consultations held in September 2006. The Mexican Navy will advise the best dates to go forward. They indicated they were not prepared to address the second and third options described reftel. 3. (S) Comment: If the Mexican Navy comes back with dates for the air defense consultations, we would ask that Northcom be included in any USG team deployed for the meetings. Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity GARZA