Unlike most of the beautiful, graceful architecture of the Bosque de Chapultepec or the Zocalo, the Internal Affairs Ministry was a dark, uninspiring, foreboding, and ominous place—and that was just the feeling from the outside. Very few persons ever spoke about the facility openly, especially about the activities in the center building—what the people of Mexico City called the “lugar de la oscuridad”—the “place of darkness.” It was meant as a message to the people of Mexico City: we are watching you, and if you dare cross us, this is where you will be taken.
“Why the hell did we come back here, Elvarez?” Minister of Internal Affairs Felix Díaz snapped as they headed through the security blast doors to the command center conference room. “If we’re under attack, I should be heading to the airport to evacuate.”
“The safest place for you until we get a report on the evacuation route is here in the ministry building—it can withstand anything except a direct aerial bombardment,” deputy minister José Elvarez said. “As soon as I can verify the security of the Métro and the airport, we will depart. In the meantime, you can get a firsthand report on the situation.”
“Bullshit, Elvarez. Let’s head to the airport in a ministry armored vehicle right away and…”
“Sir, I cannot plan an evacuation route without a report from our agents throughout the city, even if we took a main battle tank,” Elvarez said emphatically. “And if you do not personally direct your staff to secure the records, gather information, and handle the emergency, they will all flee the building and leave it wide open for whoever caused this alert.”
“I will personally cut out the eyeballs of any man or woman who runs out on me,” Díaz growled. Obviously he wasn’t happy about this situation, but he quickly followed along. The rest of the senior staff of the Internal Affairs Ministry was already in place when Felix Díaz entered the conference room. “Take seats,” he ordered. “Report.”
“Mexico City Air Route Traffic Control Center notified the Minister of Defense that an unidentified low-flying aircraft was spotted briefly on radar about seventy miles outside the city,” the command center duty officer responded. “Defense notified us immediately, and we issued an emergency situation action order to all Internal Affairs departments immediately.”
“Any sign of the aircraft?” Díaz asked. “Identification?”
“No, sir,” he replied. “As you know, Minister, there is only one major threat to the government or the Federal District from the air, and that is a special operations commando insertion mission, most likely from the United States. This aircraft was traveling at over three hundred kilometers an hour, which means it was not a helicopter.”
“What, then?”
“Most likely a reconnaissance flight, a probe of some kind, or a warning to us,” the duty officer said. “Too slow for an attack jet—possibly a turboprop plane such as a C-130.”
“A warning?”
“A simple message, sir: we can fly over your capital any time we like, and there is nothing you can do about it,” Elvarez said. “The Americans made many of these warning flights in the past over Nicaragua, Haiti, and Panama prior to the start of hostilities against them—it is a common scare tactic.”
“Contact the Foreign and Defense Ministries and ask if the Americans requested to perform such a flyover—a test of their radar systems, perhaps, or an embassy rescue exercise, or other such reason that was not communicated to us.” Elvarez relayed the order immediately. Díaz thought for a moment, then shrugged. “A probe seems unnecessary—the Americans have been spying on us for decades and have many of our people on their payroll,” he said, thinking aloud. “A warning message sounds more likely…” He stopped, his eyes widening in fear. “But we can’t count on this just being a warning—we must assume we are under attack unless proven otherwise. Status of our force deployments?”
“All units reporting force deployments fully underway,” Elvarez said. “I have personally received visual staus reports from my staff on the most important locations—those spots will be fully manned within the hour.”
“The Internal Affairs Ministry complex?”
“All defensive systems fully manned and operational, sir. All defense and security sectors reporting fully manned and ready.”
“And the Defense Ministry?”
“Under full surveillance and secure,” Elvarez replied. Although the Ministry of National Defense was located at the Palacio Nacional, the chiefs of staff, the bulk of the defense bureaucracy, and the headquarters of the First Military Zone, the actual military forces assigned to defend the capital, were located at a large base in the extreme western edge of the Federal District, just three miles northwest of the Internal Affairs Ministry complex, known simply as the Campo Militar. The First Military Zone was the largest of Mexico’s thirty-five zones, with just over fifteen thousand infantry, marines, and airmen assigned to a dozen bases in the area; two battalions, about six thousand infantry and marines, were assigned to the Campo Militar itself. “They do not seem to have placed the Campo Militar garrison on alert or deployed any forces anywhere in the Federal District. They responded immediately with a security and status report and gave us a fairly complete equipment list, as required. It has not yet been visually verified that this equipment is indeed available to us but that report will be in shortly.”
“Where is General Rojas? Have you succeeded in locating him yet?”
“It now appears that General Rojas was in the Campo Militar garrison all along,” Elvarez reported, after a quick scan of his notes. “After the alert, one of the command post officers let it slip that the general was en route to the battle staff area; this was later verified by several cellular telephone traces.”
“But not visually verified?”
“No, sir.”
“Then we should assume that Rojas’s whereabouts are unknown,” Díaz said. “I want his exact location pinpointed and visually verified, and I want it done immediately.”
“Yes, sir.” Elvarez relayed the order, then referred to a notebook in front of him, checking off items on a checklist. “Alert plus thirty minutes items appear to be completed, sir,” he said. “Next action items are at alert plus one hour. I shall notify the Palacio Nacional and the Senate and Chamber of Deputies that…”
At that moment they could hear the deep rapid-fire staccato of a heavy machine gun, and seconds later an alarm bell sounded and telephones on the conference table began to ring. “What is it?” Díaz demanded.
“Air defense gun emplacements in the Internal Affairs Ministry complex engaged an unidentified helicopter,” Elvarez said after getting the telephone report. The armed forces of the United Mexican States had a grand total of fifty air defense pieces: forty M-55 quad 12.7-millimeter antiaircraft gun units mounted on an M-16 half-track vehicle, most over sixty years old and in various states of functionality; and ten RBS-70 laser-guided antiaircraft missile launchers mounted on Humvees. Of these fifty pieces, eight of the antiaircraft guns and two RBS-70 SAMs protected the Internal Affairs Ministry—the rest were assigned to military bases.