Edward Snowden leaks: Mexico condemns alleged US spying on President Felipe Calderon
Mexico’s foreign ministry has strongly condemned alleged US spying after a report said that former President Felipe Calderon’s emails were hacked by the National Security Agency (NSA).
Data leaked by former NSA analyst Edward Snowden showed Mexico’s ex-President Felipe Calderon’s emails were hacked in 2010, Germany’s Der Spiegel reports.
Mexico’s foreign ministry said such spying was “unacceptable, illegal” and contrary to good relations.
It urged President Barack Obama to complete an investigation into the allegations.
In an official statement, the Mexican foreign ministry said it would soon re-iterate the importance of such an investigation through diplomatic means.
“In a relationship between neighbors and partners, there is no place for the alleged practices,” the statement said.
Previous reports had already suggested the NSA had intercepted communications involving current President Enrique Pena Nieto before he took office in 2012 and Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff. Messages involving her aides and state oil company Petrobas were also said to have been compromised.
The revelations prompted a sharp response from Brazil, with the suspension of plans for a state visit by Dilma Rousseff to Washington next month.
The NSA is also alleged to have seen electronic data from other Latin American governments, including Venezuela and Ecuador.
At the G20 meeting in Russia last month, Barack Obama promised to investigate the allegations of espionage against Dilma Rousseff and her Mexican counterpart.
The allegations were also based on documents leaked by Edward Snowden.
A US federal court has since filed espionage charges against the former intelligence contractor and is seeking his extradition.
Edward Snowden is currently living in Russia where he has been granted temporary asylum.