tinyurl.com/7ud2z -> today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2005-09-08T203127Z_01_N0813958_RTRIDST_0_KATRINA-MEXICO.XML
NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico, Sept 8 (Reuters) - A Mexican army convoy rolled int o the United States on Thursday with food, water and medicine for Hurric ane Katrina victims, the first Mexican military operation on US soil i n 90 years. Part of an aid package that includes ships and rescue teams, the convoy o f 45 olive-green vehicles and some 200 troops went over the Rio Grande i nto Texas from the city of Nuevo Laredo, witnesses said. Mexicans, who often have a love-hate relationship with their northern nei ghbor, are surprised and proud at being able to help in the hurricane af termath. Mexico has often been the recipient of foreign aid for earthqua kes and other natural disasters. People cheered, waved, honked car horns and rang bells in villages as the convoy snaked up to the border this week. While millions of Mexicans have trekked north in pursuit of the American dream, many at home are still sore at having lost half their territory t o the United States in the 19th century. Mexico is one of dozens of nations, including some as poor as Cuba and Ba ngladesh, to offer aid to the United States as it grapples with one of t he worst natural disasters in its history in hurricane-swamped New Orlea ns and surrounding areas. The Mexican army trucks, filled with of thousands of ready-to-eat meals, drinking water and medical equipment, were searched like regular vehicle s as they crossed the border early on Thursday headed for San Antonio, T exas customs officials said. "It's a good thing because they're taking aid to the victims," said Beatr iz Gonzalez, 26, who gave the troops free soft drinks as they stopped fo r gasoline on the Mexican side of the border. Troops inside the trucks were given malaria tablets and vaccinations agai nst diseases like Hepatitis, Cholera and Tetanus -- ironically the same shots wary American tourists might get before visiting parts of Mexico. Francisco "Pancho" Villa, angry a t US support for a rival, staged a small raid into New Mexico in 1916. They were the bedraggled remnants of an army faction on the losing side o f the Mexican revolution but their action is seen by historians as the l ast military incursion into the United States. The Villa troops killed several people on a raid on Columbus, New Mexico, prompting Washington to send a larger force into Mexico in retaliation. The two countries fought a full-blown war in the mid-19th century, when t he United States took what are now its southwestern states from Mexico. Mexico and the United States are now trade partners and President Vicente Fox told Reuters this week that the military convoy was a sign of how c lose the two nations now are.
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