DIPLOMATIC CABLES 06/07/2005
Mexico City, MEXICO June 7, 2005 -- Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, the Mexican
ambassador to the United Nations who took on the Bush administration during
its pressuring of the UN Security Council prior to the invasion of Iraq, was
killed in an automobile crash in the state of Morelos on June 5. Police
reported that Zinser's SUV hit a bus. Zinser lost his job as UN ambassador
after the Bush administration pressured President Vicente Fox to fire him
after Zinser accused the Bush administration of trying to subordinate Mexico
and treating it like its "back yard." In 2003, Mexico opposed the resolution
granting the US the right to invade Iraq. Zinser was outraged after it was
reported that the Bush administration ordered NSA and GCHQ to bug the
telephones of UN Security Council members opposed to or neutral on the US
resolution. Zinser called for a UN investigation of the US for violating the
host country agreement between the UN and US and he confirmed that his
telephone, cell phone, and e-mail was bugged. The bugging of Zinser's and
other delegates' communications was confirmed when GCHQ analyst Katharine Gun
leaked the NSA memo authorizing a "surge" operation against Security Council
members. Zinser was a potential witness against US National Intelligence
Director and former UN ambassador John Negroponte, his deputy and former NSA
Director General Michael Hayden, and UN ambassador-designate John Bolton in
their coordinated operation to eavesdrop on ambassadors and staff of UN
Security Council members. At the time of his death, Zinser was an outspoken TV
commentator and writer.
