At Mexico-US border, pope decries migrant 'tragedy'

Yahoo – AFP, Carola Sole, Jean-Louis de la Vaissiere, 18 February 2016

Pope Francis waves next to the US border before celebrating mass at the Ciudad

Juarez fairgrounds on February 17, 2016 (AFP Photo/Yuri Cortez)

Ciudad Juarez (Mexico) (AFP) - Pope Francis on Wednesday decried the human tragedy of migrants fleeing violence as he celebrated a huge mass on Mexico's border with the United States, where many have died while crossing it.

In a highly symbolic gesture, the pope climbed a ramp facing the Rio Grande that separates Mexico's Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, Texas, laid flowers under a cross and blessed hundreds of migrants on the American side, who waved at him.

People wait for Pope Francis to celebrate 

mass at the Ciudad Juarez fairground in 

Mexico on February 17, 2016 (AFP Photo/

Yuri Cortez)

Francis then celebrated mass with more than 300,000 Catholic faithful on the Juarez side of the border, with tens of thousands more following it on a giant screen in an El Paso stadium.

Immigration is a hot-button issue on the US presidential campaign trail and White House hopeful Donald trump criticized the pope's decision to hold such a mass.

But Latin America's first pontiff did not talk directly about the politics across the border, focusing instead on the plight of migrants.

"We cannot deny the humanitarian crisis which in recent years has meant the migration of thousands of people, whether by train or highway or on foot, crossing hundreds of kilometers through mountains, deserts and inhospitable zones," Francis said.

"The human tragedy that is forced migration is a global phenomenon today," he said on the last day of a five-day trip to Mexico.

Central Americans have been leaving their poor and gang-infested countries in droves, crossing Mexico's porous southern border with Guatemala on their way to the United States.

The trek across Mexico is filled with dangers -- from gangs that steal, kill or seek to forcibly recruit them, to corrupt officials who demand bribes to let them travel.

A crowd waits for Pope Francis to celebrate 

mass in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on 

February 17, 2016 (AFP Photo/Yuri Cortez)

Many others have died under the US-Mexico desert's scorching sun.

"Injustice is radicalized in the young; they are cannon fodder, persecuted and threatened when they try to flee the spiral of violence and the hell of drugs. Then there are the many women unjustly robbed of their lives," Francis said.

"No more death. No more exploitation. There is still time to change, there is still a way out and a chance, time to implore the mercy of God."

'Political pope'

The fate of 11 million undocumented immigrants is the source of vivid debate in the United States.

Trump, who wants Mexico to pay to build a wall along the border, has called the pope a "very political person."

"I think that he doesn't understand the problems our country has. I don't think he understands the danger of the open border that we have with Mexico," the billionaire real estate tycoon told the Fox Business channel last week.

In response, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said that, while the pope's job was not politics, "one should not be surprised that his pastoral and spiritual message has political repercussions."

Pope Francis prays next to the US border before celebrating mass at the Ciudad 

Juarez fairgrounds on February 17, 2016 (AFP Photo/Gabriel Bouys)

Maria Ortega Cruz Bautista, 62, traveled from Chicago to be with her family at the mass in Ciudad Juarez, a city she left 14 years ago.

She voiced hope that the pope's message will prompt authorities "to have more compassion and more consideration for migrants."

In El Paso, Sandra Ovalle, 32, shared a similar feeling as she headed with her family to the Sun Bowl stadium, where the jubilant crowd performed a wave.

"We hope that the pope will make our leaders change, so that we get support and that things change for the better," said Ovalle, a native of Mexico's northern Chihuahua state who now lives in the US state of New Mexico.

Inmates as 'prophets'

Before the mass, Francis visited a prison, nearly a week after a riot killed 49 inmates at another Mexican penitentiary.

He visited its chapel and addressed hundreds of inmates in the prison yard, telling them they should use their experiences to help "put an end to this cycle of violence and exclusion."

Pope Francis waves as he arrives on the popemobile to celebrate mass at the 

Ciudad Juarez fairgrounds on February 17, 2016 (AFP Photo/Yuri Cortez)

"The one who has suffered the greatest pain, and we could say 'has experienced hell,' can become a prophet in society. Work so that this society which uses people and discards them will not go on claiming victims," he said.

The Juarez prison was the scene of deadly riots a few years ago, with dozens of prisoners killed in recent years, but it has been held up as an example of efforts to improve Mexico's notoriously overcrowded prisons.

Ciudad Juarez stands as a grim symbol of Mexico's violence, but also of hope.

It became the country's most dangerous city a few years ago as the Sinaloa and Juarez drug cartels fought for control of drug routes.

Their turf war left as many as 3,000 dead in 2010, but the murderous rampage gradually eased afterward, with the toll falling to 300 last year.

#UPDATE Pope says Donald Trump 'not a Christian' because of his views on immigration https://t.co/sSQrwzmNNR pic.twitter.com/CZLSfn4Qfw

— AFP news agency (@AFP) February 18, 2016

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Pope Francis urges countries to review laws on refugees, migrants

Laws on migration should "reflect a readiness to welcome migrants and to facilitate their integration," according to the Argentine pontiff. He was speaking as thousands seek entry to the EU, many via Italy.

Deutsche Welle, 15 Dec 2015

In a call for compassion for the poor and vulnerable, on Tuesday urged countries to review immigration laws and integrate migrants in an appeal that strikes at the heart of debates in Europe and the United States over the issue.

"With regard to migrants, I would ask that legislation on migration be reviewed, so, while respecting reciprocal rights and responsibilities, it can reflect a readiness to welcome migrants and to facilitate their integration," he said the occasion of the Roman Catholic Church's World Day of Peace.

"Special concern should be paid to the conditions for legal residency, since having to live clandestinely can lead to criminal behavior," the pontiff, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, said.

The annual message is sent to world leaders, international organizations and the United Nations.

The pontiff's message comes as some EU members have responded to the biggest refugee crisis to hit the continent since World War II by erecting barriers and rejecting a German proposal of a quota system to settle refugees across member states.

Meanwhile, immigration in the United States remains a divisive issue ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Conservative Republicans have repeatedly slammed President Barack Obama's immigration reform to bring some 5 million illegal immigrants - US residents for many years in most cases - out of the shadows.

A plan to increase the number of Syria refugees allowed asylum in the United States has similarly faced resistance from Republicans.

Leading Republican candidate Donald Trump has gone so far as to call for a wall along the US-Mexican border, deporting up to 11 million immigrants and preventing Muslims from entering the country.

In February, the pope is schedule to visit Mexico where he plans to address immigration during a mass on the US-Mexican border.

Pope Francis also touched on other issues including wars, poverty, the death penalty, prison reform, unemployment and the environment.

cw/msh (AP, dpa, Reuters)

Mexico's top court opens door to recreational pot use

Yahoo – AFP, Yemeli Ortega, 5 Nov 2015

A demostrator smokes marijuana during a rally in front of the Supreme Court 

of Justice in Mexico City, on November 4, 2015 (AFP Photo/Alfredo Estrella)

Mexico City (AFP) - Mexico's Supreme Court opened the door to recreational use of marijuana in a landmark ruling, giving a group of activists permission to grow and smoke their own pot.

Contributing to a growing drug policy debate in Latin America, the justices on Wednesday voted 4-1 in favor of the four members of the Mexican Society for Responsible and Tolerant Personal Use, whose Spanish acronym spells "SMART."

Justice Arturo Zaldivar, who backed the group's effort, said the country's marijuana prohibition is an "extreme" and "disproportionate" measure.

A woman smokes marijuana during a rally

 in front of the Supreme Court of Justice in

 Mexico City on November 4, 2015 (AFP

Photo/Alfredo Estrella)

The vote allows SMART to produce and consume its own pot, but not sell it. The ruling is expected to prompt other activists to turn to the top court, which must issue five similar rulings to establish a legal precedent.

Outside the court in the capital's historic center, dozens of people celebrated the ruling by smoking joints and dancing to reggae music.

"We won!" exclaimed Francisco Torres Landa, a 50-year-old lawyer and SMART member, pumping his fist in the air inside the chamber.

His group hopes the ruling will force Congress to consider legalizing marijuana, a move they say would strip drug cartels of a key source of cash and therefore reduce the country's runaway violence.

President Enrique Pena Nieto, who has opposed the legalization of pot, said his government "respects and accepts" the ruling.

But he told reporters that the decision is limited in scope to the four members of SMART and that it does not mean a broader legalization of marijuana.

The ruling, however, "opens a broad debate" on how to regulate the use of marijuana and "inhibit its consumption," he said.

Health Minister Mercedes Juan Lopez said her ministry will now have to draft new regulations to ensure that the health of non-pot smokers and children is protected.

The government will also have to look at terms for importing seeds.

A man smokes marijuana during a rally 

in front of the Supreme Court of Justice

 in Mexico City on November 4, 2015

(AFP Photo/Alfredo Estrella)

'Not for us'

The SMART members themselves -- two lawyers, an accountant and a social activist -- say they do not even plan to grow and smoke pot.

Rather, the activists want to force the government and lawmakers to rethink the controversial war on drugs.

"This is not for the four of us," SMART member Torres Landa told AFP, saying the goal was to "break" the government's marijuana prohibition.

Pena Nieto, who took office in December 2012, has pressed on with his predecessor's controversial strategy of using troops to go after cartels.

The ruling, Pena Nieto said, "does not imply in any way the elimination of the policy that the government has maintained."

Legalization has caught on in other parts of Latin America.

Uruguay has created a regulated market for pot, while Chile's Congress is debating a law to legalize its recreational and medical use.

In the United States -- the biggest consumer of drugs from Mexico -- 23 US states and the capital Washington, D.C. now allow medical marijuana, and four others plus the US capital have legalized pot for recreational use.

People demonstrate for and against the decriminalization of marijuana in front 

of the Supreme Court of Justice in Mexico City on November 4, 2015 (AFP 

Photo/Alfredo Estrella)

Mexico 'not ready for this'

The judge who voted against, Jorge Mario Pardo, argued that the ruling could not work because it does not address the ban against obtaining the seeds to grow marijuana.

"Mexico has many problems to resolve. It's not ready for this," said Consuelo Mendoza, president of the National Union of Parents, who took part in an anti-marijuana protest outside the court.

SMART took its case to the courts in 2013 after the government's health regulator, Cofepris, denied its request for permission to produce and consume its own marijuana for recreational use.

While Mexico's government has opposed the legalization of drugs, health authorities granted an exception last month for an eight-year-old girl suffering from severe epilepsy.

The girl, Grace, took her first treatment of a cannabis-based oil last month, which her parents hope will reduce the 400 epileptic fits she endures each day.

Mexican judges say it’s ok to smoke weed for fun https://t.co/43XMbzpZeF #INFOGRAPHIC shows global prevalence @AFP pic.twitter.com/hNw4LNrVty

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) November 5, 2015

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Global drugs conference delegates urge UN to publish leaked paper backing drug legalisation https://t.co/yRIB43Q73w pic.twitter.com/dPbi9l0sKR

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) October 21, 2015

Swiss account secret of HSBC chief Stuart Gulliver revealed

Leaked files covering 2005-2007 show bank chief executive sheltered £5m of his own money at Panamanian company with Swiss HSBC account

The Guardian, James Ball, Juliette Garside, David Pegg and Harry Davies, 22 February 2015

Stuart Gulliver in Hong Kong in 2012: leaked files show that the HSBC chief
 executive was a client of the bank’s Swiss subsidiary at the centre of the scandal.
Photograph: Bloomberg via Getty Images

Stuart Gulliver, the HSBC chief executive who has vowed to reform the crisis-hit bank, sheltered millions of pounds in a Swiss account through a Panamanian company and remains tax domiciled in Hong Kong.

Leaked files show that the Derby-born Gulliver, who is due to present HSBC’s annual report on Monday in the wake of the international controversy over its Geneva-based private bank, was also one of its clients, holding about £5m in a Swiss account.

The bank executive was listed as the beneficial owner of an account in the name of Worcester Equities Inc, an anonymous company registered in Panama, containing a balance in 2007 of $7.6m. It was through this entity that Gulliver’s HSBC bonuses were paid until 2003. He also held a second account in the name of Worcester Foundation, which had been closed before 2007.

Although now based in the UK, where HSBC has its headquarters, Gulliver is domiciled in Hong Kong for legal and tax purposes.

The banking details have emerged as the 55-year-old Oxford University graduate, who became chief executive in January 2011, is due to face questions from reporters and investors for the first time since the Guardian and other media outlets published the leaked HSBC files, which revealed misconduct at the bank’s Swiss subsidiary.

The documents, covering 2005-07, detailed how the private bank was complicit in tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance, doled out bricks of cash in mixed currencies to clients, and provided banking services to criminals, drug smugglers, and friends and families of dictators.

Gulliver has already personally signed a “sincere apology” which appeared in three newspapers last Sunday, saying “the standards to which we operate today were not universally in place in our Swiss operations 8 years ago”.

The bank is expected to announce on Monday full-year profits for 2014 in excess of £13bn – and Gulliver’s total compensation package has been predicted to be around £7.5m, although it was reported over the weekend that he may surrender some of his remuneration because the bank agreed to pay fines to settle unrelated allegations of foreign exchange rigging last year.

In response to queries from the Guardian about his personal account as revealed in the leaked files, a representative for Gulliver said he had made use of HSBC Suisse to hold his bonus payments prior to 2003, when he moved from Hong Kong to London.

Lawyers for Gulliver said that Hong Kong tax had been paid on this income – and explained that he “followed this procedure because he wanted his taxed bonus earnings to remain private from his then colleagues in Hong Kong, which they would not have done if he had kept them in an HSBC Hong Kong account”.

The Guardian asked Gulliver why he used a Panamanian company to hold the funds, given Swiss accounts already offer secrecy. His lawyers declined to answer.

Gulliver’s legal representatives added that his Swiss accounts have “for a number of years” been voluntarily declared to UK tax authorities. They declined to specify the exact date they were first declared.

Gulliver is also among those current and former clients of HSBC Suisse to take advantage of non-dom status. Gulliver is a registered non-dom based on his long residence in Hong Kong – now a special administrative region of China – which he considers to be his home, despite his UK-based position.

A representative for Gulliver said: “Having lived there since the 1980s, our client has become a permanent Hong Kong resident with right of abode, as has his wife who is an Australian national. Hong Kong continues to be their home albeit that our client now works primarily in the UK. As a matter of law, our client is domiciled in Hong Kong.”

Non-dom status can confer several tax advantages on those who claim the status compared with those domiciled in the UK. These include advantages in how inheritance tax is applied, but can also exempt worldwide income earned from outside the UK from incurring UK taxes – a system known as the remittance basis.

Gulliver’s lawyers confirmed he was “entitled to claim the benefit of the remittance basis”, but did not say whether or not he did so. If Gulliver were on the remittance basis, he would not need to pay tax on investment income held outside the UK – which would include holdings in Swiss bank accounts.

A representative for Gulliver said that he had paid all relevant income taxes: “Full UK tax has been paid on the entirety of his worldwide earnings less a credit for tax paid additionally in Hong Kong (where he is also tax resident) on that part of the same earnings doubly taxed.”

John Christensen, director of the Tax Justice Network, which has campaigned for abolition of non-dom tax benefits in the UK, said the non-dom quirk was particularly attractive for anybody who had accumulated assets such as homes and bonuses offshore, because any gains on offshore assets would be sheltered from UK tax.

“For my part I think it illustrates the absurdity of the rule, which should have been abolished many years ago. It serves no useful purpose and is hugely discriminatory against ordinary UK taxpayers,” he said.

Separately, Gulliver did not become employed by HSBC’s main holding company when he took over as chief executive of the bank in 2011. Documents seen by the Guardian at the time showed that Gulliver took the job of chief executive officer as a secondment from the Dutch-headquartered HSBC Asia Holdings, rather than take a straightforward appointment to the UK parent company.

A spokesman for HSBC said around 350 of its staff were employed through the Netherlands. “About 350 of the bank’s most internationally-mobile employees are employed by HSBC BV,” he said. “This enables them to be employed/seconded to any part of the global group without the need to change contracted employer.”

Representatives for Gulliver declined to explain for what purpose he was employed through the Netherlands subsidiary.

Gulliver has repeatedly emphasised to the public and to lawmakers that the culture of the bank, as well as its safeguards, has changed – both in the wake of the HSBC Files, and previous scandals including Libor rigging, and involvement with Mexican money laundering.

Since the publication of the HSBC files, the bank has been keen to stress that it has downsized the Swiss business, reducing the number of clients by 66%, to around 10,000. However, the total value of assets in those accounts – $68bn (£44bn) – has fallen by only 42%.

Douglas Flint and Stuart Gulliver appear before the Treasury select committee. 

Photograph: Reuters TV

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HSBC bank 'helped clients dodge millions in tax'

BBC Panorama, Richard Bilton, 8 Feb 2015

Britain's biggest bank helped wealthy clients cheat the UK out of millions of pounds in tax, the BBC has learned.

Panorama has seen thousands of accounts from HSBC's private bank in Switzerland leaked by a whistleblower in 2007.

They show bankers helped clients evade tax and offered deals to help tax dodgers stay ahead of the law.

HSBC admitted that some individuals took advantage of bank secrecy to hold undeclared accounts. But it said it has now "fundamentally changed".

The documents, stolen in 2007 by a computer expert working for HSBC in Geneva, contain details of more than 100,000 clients from around the world.

Offshore accounts are not illegal, but many people use them to hide cash from the tax authorities. And while tax avoidance is perfectly legal, deliberately hiding money to evade tax is not.

The French authorities assessed the stolen data and concluded in 2013 that 99.8% of their citizens on the list were probably evading tax.

Joint investigation

The thousands of pages of data were obtained by the French newspaper Le Monde. In a joint investigation, the documents have now been passed to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the Guardian newspaper, Panorama and more than 50 media outlets around the world.

The documents include details of almost 7,000 British clients - and many of the accounts were not declared to the taxman.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) was given the leaked data in 2010 and has identified 1,100 people who had not paid their taxes. But almost five years later, only one tax evader has been prosecuted.

HMRC said £135m in tax, interest and penalties have now been paid by those who hid their assets in Switzerland.

But the chairwoman of the Public Accounts Committee, Margaret Hodge MP, said: "I just don't think the tax authorities have been strong enough, assertive enough, brave enough, tough enough in securing for the British taxpayer the monies that are due."

HSBC did not just turn a blind eye to tax evaders - in some cases it broke the law by actively helping its clients.

The bank gave one wealthy family a foreign credit card so they could withdraw their undeclared cash at cashpoints overseas.

HSBC also helped its tax-dodging clients stay ahead of the law.

When the European Savings Directive was introduced in 2005, the idea was that Swiss banks would take any tax owed from undeclared accounts and pass it to the taxman.

It was a tax designed to catch tax evaders. But instead of simply collecting the money, HSBC wrote to customers and offered them ways to get round the new tax.

HSBC denies that all these account holders were evading tax.

'Dodge liabilities'

Richard Brooks, a former tax inspector and author of The Great Tax Robbery, said: "I think they were a tax avoidance and tax evasion service. I think that's what they were offering. They knew full well that people come to them to dodge their tax liabilities."

The bank now faces criminal investigations in the US, France, Belgium and Argentina. HSBC said it is "co-operating with relevant authorities". But in the UK, where the bank is based, no such action has been taken.

Stephen Green served as a minister of trade and investment

The man in charge of HSBC at the time, Stephen Green, was made a Conservative peer and appointed to the government.

Lord Green was made a minister eight months after HMRC had been given the leaked documents from his bank. He served as a minister of trade and investment until 2013.

He told Panorama: "As a matter of principle I will not comment on the business of HSBC past or present."

HSBC said it has completely overhauled its private banking business and has reduced the number of Swiss accounts by almost 70% since 2007.

In a statement, the bank said: "HSBC has implemented numerous initiatives designed to prevent its banking services being used to evade taxes or launder money."

The bank said it now puts compliance and tax transparency ahead of profitability.

But Panorama has spoken to a whistleblower who said there were still problems with tax dodging at HSBC private bank when she worked there in 2013.

Sue Shelley was the private bank's head of compliance in Luxembourg. She said HSBC did not keep its promise to change. "I think the verbal messages were great but they weren't put into practice and that disturbed me greatly," she said.

It was her job to make sure HSBC followed the rules, but she said she was sacked after raising concerns. She has since won a tribunal hearing for unfair dismissal.

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France's top diplomat visits Cuba, first time in 30 years

Yahoo – AFP, 12 April 2014

France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius (L) participates in a wreath-laying

 ceremony at the Jose Marti monument at Revolution Square, Havana, on April 12,

2014 (AFP Photo/Yamil Lage)

Havana (AFP) - French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius arrived Saturday in Havana for a brief visit aimed at strengthening ties, as Cuba begins talks with the European Union on normalizing relations.

"This is the first time in 31 years that the head of French diplomacy is on an official trip to Cuba," Fabius told reporters as he spoke of revitalizing ties with the Americas' only communist nation.

"France wants to strengthen its ties with all of South America and, in this context, we wanted relations to be strengthened in particular with Cuba," Fabius added as he was received by his counterpart at the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

"Today we note a favorable development -- and great potential -- in our bilateral relations," said Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, as he pledged his "willingness to continue to work on common goals" with France.

Coming from Mexico, where he accompanied President Francois Hollande for a state visit, Fabius was set next to meet the head of Cuba's Catholic church, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, as well as representatives of French businesses in Cuba and a number of civil society leaders.

He returns to Paris this evening.

Cuba in early March agreed to a proposal by the European Union for talks paving the way to normalizing diplomatic relations, which turned frosty a decade ago over Havana's human rights record.

Trade between France and Cuba is modest, worth around $388 million (280 million euros) a year, with the balance solidly in France's favor.

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Kryon Q&A

Question (2005): Dear Kryon: I read in a spiritual article that Fidel Castro's mission is to show how to do things without money, that this is the reason why he and the tropical revolution have been kept alive. Is that true? If not, then why didn’t Cuba change when Eastern Europe changed? Has Fidel Castro been working for the light or is he a part of the old energy?

Answer: This leader is of the old energy, but was needed for the time. The real reason was to bring the Soviet Union close to your shores in order to help with the year 2000 Armageddon scenario that didn’t happen. His earthly masters would have played a very important part in Cuba with the nuclear war you didn’t have.

That’s the whole reason, and now he exists as a relic of what didn’t happen. His society is poor, and the culture is not elevated or pleased with itself. This energy will change soon… sooner than you think. Then you will see a Cuba that has been “hiding” for a very long time, and also realize the unbalance and cultural richness that has been there all along.

France and Mexico seek answers after 'shocking' US spy claims

Google – AFP, 21 October 2013

US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden speaks during a dinner with US

ex-intelligence workers and activists in Moscow on October 9, 2013 (Wikileaks/

AFP/File)

Paris — France and Mexico have angrily demanded prompt explanations from Washington following fresh, "shocking" spying allegations leaked by former US security contractor Edward Snowden.

The reports in French daily Le Monde and German weekly Der Spiegel revealed that the National Security Agency secretly recorded tens of millions of phone calls in France and hacked into former Mexican President Felipe Calderon's email account.

French Interior Minister Manuel Valls described the revelations in Le Monde newspaper as "shocking", in an interview Monday with Europe 1 radio.

The spy agency taped 70.3 million phone calls in France over a 30-day period between December 10 and January 8 this year, Le Monde reported in its online version, citing documents from Snowden.

French Interior minister Manuel Valls

 speaks to journalists in Pointe-a-Pitre

 on the French Caribbean island of 

Guadeloupe on October 18, 2013 (AFP/

File, Miguel Medina)

According to the paper, the NSA automatically picked up communications from certain phone numbers in France and recorded text messages under a programme code-named "US-985D."

Le Monde said the documents gave grounds to believe that the NSA targeted not only people suspected of being involved in terrorism but also high-profile individuals from the world of business or politics.

Valls said the revelations would call for "precise explanations by US authorities in the coming hours."

US authorities declined comment to the French daily on the "classified" documents.

The Le Monde article followed similar revelations by Der Spiegel -- also based on documents provided by Snowden -- that US agents had hacked into the Mexican presidency's network, gaining access to Calderon's account.

According to the report, the NSA said this contained "diplomatic, economic and leadership communications which continue to provide insight into Mexico's political system and internal stability."

The agency reportedly said the president's office was now "a lucrative source."

Mexican authorities said they would be seeking answers from US officials "as soon as possible" following the allegations.

"The Mexican government reiterates its categorical condemnation of the violation of privacy of institutional communications and Mexican citizens," Mexico's foreign ministry said in a statement Sunday.

"This practice is unacceptable, illegitimate and contrary to Mexican law and international law," the statement read.

Snowden, who has taken refuge in Russia, is wanted in the United States for espionage and other charges after leaking details of the NSA's worldwide snooping activities, which triggered a global furore when published in major newspapers in June.

The fugitive had been in hiding in Hong Kong since May and flew to Moscow on June 23, where he stayed in the transit area for more than a month before being given temporary asylum and leaving the airport for a safe location.

US President Barack Obama has since proposed reforms of US surveillance programmes in the wake of the furore.

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