No sign of foul play found in Mexico plane crash

The crash, which killed Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mouriño and eight others aboard a Learjet 45 on Tuesday night, was a serious blow to President Felipe Calderon at a time when his government is locked in a violent struggle against drug traffickers and faces growing signs of economic trouble related to the global downturn.

As interior minister, traditionally the country's second- most powerful office, the 37-year-old Mouriño's sprawling portfolio included domestic security. He was the closest among Calderon's tight circle of advisors on crime and a host of other issues and had been mentioned as a possible successor when Calderon's term ends in 2012.

"It's a strong blow," said Alfonso Zarate, a political analyst in Mexico City. "It is the loss of a key figure from some of the most sensitive issues in the country."

But Mouriño did not carry the political heft of some of his predecessors, and commentators already had started asking how long he would last in the post. He was interior minister for just 10 months and took a back seat to the army and other federal law enforcement officials in the crime fight, analysts said.

Mouriño's death seems unlikely to significantly alter the course of Calderon's 2-year-old, uphill campaign against drug traffickers.

"He may have been incredibly important, personally, to the president. But it's hard to see where the ship of state has been affected," said Daniel Lund, a Mexico City-based pollster and political consultant.

Also killed was a former top anti-drug prosecutor, Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, spurring immediate suspicion that the plane crash might have been the work of criminal gangs. Mexico's public safety director, Ramon Martin Huerta, died three years ago in a helicopter crash that was deemed an accident.

Luis Tellez, the transportation secretary, said Tuesday's crash did not appear to involve an explosion before the plane hit the ground, reducing the likelihood that a bomb had been planted.

"We have detected no evidence leading to a hypothesis other than an accident," Tellez told reporters. "But it will be investigated until all possibilities are exhausted."