Former President Felipe Calderon just tweeted his outrage over reports that the National Security Agency targeted him in espionage efforts on Mexico.
In his first tweet, Calderon said he’d talked to current Foreign Secretary Jose Antonio Meade “to request that you convey my strongest protest against the spying of which I was subject.”
In a second tweet, Calderon called the spying “an affront to the country's institutions since they were made during my tenure as President of the Republic.” In third and fourth tweets, Calderon said he expects the Foreign Ministry “to demand explanations from the United States” and announced that until Washington sends answers back, “I will not comment further on the matter.”
Calderon, who is spending the year at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, could probably pick up the phone himself and ask what’s going on. Maybe it's easier to tweet.
Unlike Brazil, which took strong actions, such as canceling President Dilma Rousseff’s state visit and White House dinner scheduled for this month, Mexico has been low key about the revelations.
On Sunday, the Foreign Ministry reacted to this report in Germany’s Der Spiegel about the spying on Mexico, saying, "This practice is unacceptable, illegitimate and contrary to Mexican law and international law." It conditioned its outrage, referring to the “activities that allegedly took place.”
Calderon did not use the conditional, asserting flatly that he was subject to spying.
President Obama called French President Francois Hollande a few hours ago, the White House says, and the two "discussed recent disclosures in the press – some of which have distorted our activities and some of which raise legitimate questions for our friends and allies about how these capabilities are employed." I don't know if any call has been placed to Calderon.