Benito Jimenez
Reform Agency
Sunday, January 08, 2023 | 07:23
Mexico City.- Authorities of the United States (EU) yesterday reviewed the facilities of the “Felipe Ángeles” International Airport (AIFA) on the eve of the arrival of President Joe Biden at this terminal located in the State of Mexico, about 40 kilometers from the center of the capital of the country.
Sources from the National Guard told Grupo REFORMA that a security delegation arrived at these facilities to meet with personnel from the Secretary of National Defense (Sedena) to refine the logistics of receiving the US President, this afternoon.
Security, it was indicated, is guaranteed, since this complex is under military and National Guard (GN) protection.
Although it was established that there will be no “special” operation, elements of the 37th Military Zone, based in San Miguel de los Jagüeyes, will be used to reinforce security, as well as GN personnel to open the way for the presidential convoy to the City. from Mexico.
The sources added that Biden will be transferred to an area of Polanco, where he will spend the night.
In a tour carried out by the AIFA and the Polanco area, it was verified that the security of the Secret Service was limited to planning meetings, review of facilities, as well as the study of emergency routes and medical attention centers.
In Polanco, diplomatic vehicles could be seen around the Campo Marte area.
Former President Barack Obama stayed at the Hotel Presidente Intercontinental in 2009 and 2013, and Biden is expected to sleep there.
The considered route of the AIFA was planned by the Circuito Exterior Mexiquense and Avenida Central.
Air surveillance (with helicopters and drones) is also contemplated, in addition to the use of snipers at different points along the route, which were not disclosed for security reasons.
“Here (at AIFA) you will see a group of snipers and several go (to Mexico City) by helicopter, the bulk of the elements (from the US) go by land on advance and escort tasks,” he said. the official source.
After landing this afternoon at the AIFA, Biden will travel to Mexico City on “La Bestia”.
The arrival of the US president at AIFA coincides with the arrival of 29 commercial planes: 15 from Aeroméxico from Mérida, Monterrey, Guadalajara, Cancún, Puerto Vallarta, Acapulco and Oaxaca; five from Viva Aerobús from Tijuana, Monterrey, Puerto Escondido, Cancún and La Haba (Cuba), in addition to nine from Volaris that come from Cancún, San José del Cabo, Tijuana, Puerto Vallarta, Mérida, Oaxaca, Guadalajara and Mexicali.
The entrances to AIFA are monitored by various GN barracks and checkpoints, personnel who are also in charge of guarding the main building.
Although Biden will arrive at AIFA, it was indicated that the US Secret Service’s base of operations and logistics will be the Mexico City International Airport (AICM), where his wife Jill Biden will arrive.
In that terminal, various landings of a US Air Force plane with advanced supplies and personnel of President Biden, who will attend the North American Leaders Summit, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, are reported.
AICM authorities mobilized the Boeing C17A Globemaster III military plane to the air terminal, where it was later taken to Military Air Base 19, which until the past six-year term was the hangar of the General Staff.
