VZCZCXRO2778
PP RUEHCD RUEHGD RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM
DE RUEHME #0474/01 0511556
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 201556Z FEB 08
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0564
INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PRIORITY 2367
RHMFIUU/CDR USNORTHCOM PRIORITY
RUEAHLA/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY PRIORITY
RULSDMK/DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 MEXICO 000474 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR S/CT S GAIL ROBERTSON 
STATE FOR A/S SHANNON 
STATE FOR WHA/MEX, WHA/EPSC 
STATE FOR WHA GSPROW 
STATE FOR EB/ESC MCMANUS AND IZZO 
USDOC FOR 4320/ITA/MAC/WH/ONAFTA/GWORD 
USDOC FOR ITS/TD/ENERGY DIVISION 
NSC FOR DAN FISK 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON
SUBJECT: MEXICO CI/KR RESPONSE FOR S/CT 
 
REF: STATE 6461 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary. Critical infrastructure protection (CIP) is 
a 
priority for Mexico.  The U.S. and Mexico have already 
established a framework for developing a common approach to 
CIP.  Because Mexico borders the United States, U.S. domestic 
agencies, including DHS, Northcom, and others have studied 
aspects of CIP in Mexico at length, and should be consulted 
in 
order to obtain a complete picture.  Based solely on an 
internal 
Embassy analysis, Mexico's energy sector, key land, sea and 
air 
ports of entry, and border water management are the main 
areas 
of interest for the purposes of the National Infrastructure 
Protection Plan (NIPP). The 2005 Security and Prosperity 
Partnership (SPP) of North America established a common 
approach 
to security to protect North America from external threats, 
prevent and respond to threats, and facilitate low-risk 
trade. 
Mexico has established several working groups to evaluate and 
improve the protection of critical infrastructure within its 
territory. 
 
¶2. (SBU) The working groups correspond to the eight sectoral 
groups that compose Mexico's critical infrastructure: 
 
- Energy (e.g. Storage and Generating Facilities and 
Distribution 
Networks) 
- Telecommunications (e.g. Telecommunication Networks) 
- Transportation (e.g. Ports of Entry) 
- Water and Dams (e.g. (Hydraulic Infrastructure Bridges) 
- Public Health (e.g. Epidemiological Surveillance) 
- Food and Agriculture (e.g. Animal Health and 
Epidemiological 
Surveillance) 
- Cybernetic Security (e.g. Communication and Information 
Networks) 
- Strategic Facilities (e.g. Physical Protection of Strategic 
Facilities) 
 
End Summary 
 
¶3. (SBU) Critical infrastructure protection is a priority for 
Mexico.  The United States and Mexico entered into the 
U.S.-Mexico Border Partnership on March 22, 2002 which 
provided 
both countries with the basis to develop the Framework of 
Cooperation for Critical Infrastructure Protection along the 
border. 
 
Mexican Critical Infrastructure 
------------------------------- 
 
Energy 
------ 
 
¶4. (SBU) Mexico provides 12% -15% of U.S. daily crude oil 
demand. 
Most of this volume is supplied from Mexican offshore fields 
in 
the Bay of Campeche.  Much of the Bay of Campeche production 
is 
blended in the Takuntah Floating storage offloading vessel 
(FPSO).  Final shipments of Bay of Campeche crude are made 
through the Cayo Arcas offshore loading platform and the Dos 
Bocas oil terminal.  Mexican shipments to the United States 
averaged 1500 thousand barrels per day in 2007, this 
represents 
approximately 10% of all U.S. oil imports. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The Takuntah floating storage offloading vessel has 
 
MEXICO 00000474  002.2 OF 005 
 
 
a 
flow through capacity of approximately 800 thousand barrels. 
Combined the Cayo Arcas offshore loading platform and Dos 
Bocas 
oil terminal have a total capacity of 2400 thousand barrels 
per 
day.  If either of these facilities were damaged the effect 
on 
crude supplies would be significant.  It is not clear from 
information available at Post whether and how quickly this 
production could be replaced, should these facilities be 
completly disabled. 
 
¶6. (SBU) The Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), Mexico's 
national electricity monopoly, operates the 1350 MW Laguna 
Verde 
nuclear power plant on the Gulf Coast of the State of 
Veracruz 
in the municipality of Lucero.  The plant is located 70 km 
northeast of the city of Veracruz, and approximately 700 km 
South 
Southeast of Brownsville, Texas.  The plant with 2 GE boiling 
water reactors is currently under contract to be expanded 
with a 
third train to produce 1634 MW.  The plant produces 
approximately 
34 tons per year of high level nuclear waste, and all the 
waste 
ever produced at the facility, which has been in operation 
since 
July 1990 is stored at the plant.  An accident or attack 
could 
potentially spread nuclear material to the southern United 
States. 
 
Ports of Entry 
-------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Mexico and the U.S. share a 1,954 mile long border, 
1,279 miles of which is a river boundary (Rio Grande and 
Colorado).  Mexico is the U.S.'s third-largest trade partner. 
 
Over USD 1 billion dollars worth of goods and services cross 
this 
border every day.  There are a total of 26 crossings along 
the 
U.S.-Mexico border.  In 2006, over 4.7 million trucks, 600 
thousand rail containers, 181.4 million vehicle passengers, 
and 
46.3 million pedestrians, crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. 
 
¶8. (SBU) The most important border crossings are: 
 
Arizona, Nogales - 289,590 trucks, 8.6 million passengers in 
3.3 
million vehicles, 7.7 million pedestrians 
 
Arizona, San Luis - 5.2 million passengers in 2.7 million 
vehicles, 
2.7 million pedestrians 
 
California, Calexico - 11.7 million passengers in 6.1 million 
vehicles, 4 million pedestrians 
 
California, Calexico East - 307,291 trucks, 7.8 million 
passengers 
in 3.8 million vehicles 
 
California, Otay Mesa (non-commercial) - 11.2 million 
passengers in 
5.7 million vehicles, 4 million pedestrians 
 
California, San Ysidro (non-commercial) -32.9 million 
passengers in 
17.2 million vehicles, 7.8 million pedestrians 
 
 
MEXICO 00000474  003 OF 005 
 
 
California, Otay Mesa/San Ysidro (commercial only) - 749,472 
trucks 
 
Texas, Brownsville - 243,116 trucks, 1,055 trains, 14.1 
million 
passengers in 7 million vehicles, 2.9 million pedestrians 
 
Texas, Eagle Pass - 1,337 trains, 8.4 million passengers in 
3.6 
million vehicles 
 
Texas, El Paso - 744,951 trucks, 2,449 trains, 28.2 million 
passengers in 15.6 million vehicles, 7.5 million pedestrians 
 
Texas, Hidalgo - 457,825 trucks, 12.7 million passengers in 
6.5 
million vehicles 
 
Texas, Laredo - 1.5 million trucks, 3.850 trains, 15.1 
million 
passengers in 6.1 million vehicles 
 
(Note: Crossings listed alphabetically by state.  Data listed 
for most significant statistics for year 2006. Passenger and 
vehicle tallies include busses and passenger vehicles) 
 
¶9. (SBU) Mexican seaports ship over 105 billion tons of cargo 
to 
the United States.  Sixty-two percent of Mexican seaport 
exports 
are destined for the U.S.  Additionally, some imports into 
Mexican ports are directly exported to the U.S. via land, or 
are 
used for the assembly of finished products to be exported to 
the 
U.S. 
 
Key Mexican ports for U.S. products are: 
 
Ensenada, Baja California 
Manzanillo, Colima 
Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan 
Altamira, Tamaulipas 
Veracruz, Veracruz 
 
¶10. (SBU) Mexico is the primary foreign destination for U.S. 
tourists. In 2006 10.9 million U.S. tourists entered Mexico 
via 
air, a number representing 86% of all tourist arrivals by 
air. 
The main international airport used by U.S. tourists is 
Mexico 
City international Airport (Benito Juarez).  However, direct 
flights from the U.S. to Monterrey, Guadalajara, Leon, 
Aguascalientes, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos and 
Acapulco 
are common. 
 
¶11. (SBU) The National Geological Agency maintains a map of 
critical infrastructure with a focus on the border region. 
The map can be viewed at 
http://ftp.geoint.nga.smil.mil/nonstd/ 
data/countries/us/hsip/mex us border 52x35.jpg 
 
Water Issues 
------------ 
 
¶12. (SBU) The International Boundary and Water Commission 
(IBWC) 
builds and operates other dams, sewage treatment plants, 
bridges, 
and levees across the U.S.-Mexico border.  For more 
information 
please see: http://www.ibwc.state.gov 
 
¶13. (SBU) The IBWC built and now operates and maintains two 
 
MEXICO 00000474  004 OF 005 
 
 
international dams and storage reservoirs, the Falcon and the 
Amistad, with associated hydroelectric generation facilities 
that provide power to citizens on both sides of the border. 
Both dams are characterized as high hazard potential dams 
under 
the classification system established by the Federal 
Emergency 
Management Agency (FEMA).  About 98% of all water used in the 
Lower Rio Grande Valley, in both Texas and Mexico, is 
supplied 
from the two Rio Grande reservoirs; those releases currently 
total about 1.2 million acre-feet of water per year.  The 
U.S. 
operates power plants on both dams that provide power to the 
Texas power grid.  Amistad and Falcon are among the 25 
largest 
storage reservoirs in the United States. 
 
¶14. (SBU) A flood wave and dam break analysis concluded that 
a 
dam break at Amistad would result in the destruction of all 
international bridges downstream.  There are 10 international 
bridges located between Amistad and Falcon.  There are an 
additional 11 international bridges between Falcon and 
Brownsville, Texas/Matamoros, Tamaulipas that would be 
impacted 
by dam failure at Falcon. 
 
¶15. (SBU) There are up to 80 dikes in the Ciudad Juarez area 
which are irregular, in that they are privately or locally 
built 
obstructions in arroyos which pass through or near the city. 
Most, if not all, are earthenware dams to catch runoff of 
rainwater.  In August 2006, the Montada Dike in the El 
Paso/Juarez area came very close to failing.  Failure of the 
Montada Dike would flood parts of El Paso and destroy the 
International Dam.  The dam has been repaired and spillways 
have 
been installed, but it remains delicate. The local government 
in 
Ciudad Juarez has fought against the removal of irregular 
dams 
like Montada because it would require the relocation of 
populations that have established themselves in the natural 
flow 
path. 
 
Mission Involvement 
------------------- 
 
¶16. (SBU) Post is directly engaged with the Mexican 
government on 
critical infrastructure issues.  EnergyOff is in frequent 
contact 
with officials from the Secretariat of Energy and the 
state-run 
oil monopoly Pemex regarding protection of oil interests, 
especially given increased interest locally in protecting oil 
pipelines from domestic terror attacks.  The EST section 
handles 
water issues and is the primary liaison with the 
International 
Boundary and Water Commission and the office of the 
Secretariat 
 
SIPDIS 
of Foreign Affairs directly in charge of border environment 
issues.  The Foreign Agricultural Service in conjunction with 
the 
Economic section monitor Mexico's critical food and 
agriculture 
infrastructure.  Representatives from the various Department 
of 
Homeland Security agencies also contribute to posts critical 
infrastructure engagement as does NorthCom via the Office of 
Defense Cooperation. 
 
 
 
MEXICO 00000474  005 OF 005 
 
 
Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity and the North American 
Partnership Blog at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap / 
GARZA