The Associated Press reports Mexican army convoys and a navy ship laden with food, supplies and specialists traveled to the United States on Wednesday to help in the Hurricane Katrina relief effort:
A convoy of 45 vehicles and 196 soldiers arrived at the border city of Nuevo Laredo Wednesday evening. It was to cross into U.S. territory early Thursday, Gen. Francisco Ortiz Valadez told reporters as his men refueled at a local gas station.
He said the troops would help refugee operations in San Antonio, Texas.
The convoy is the first Mexican military unit to operate on U.S. soil since 1846, when Mexican troops briefly marched into Texas, after it separated from Mexico and joined the United States.
The Mexican convoy includes two mobile kitchens that can feed 7,000 people a day, three flatbed trucks carrying mobile water-treatment plants and 15 trailers of bottled water, blankets and applesauce.
Mexico has also sent a Mexican navy ship, the Papaloapan, equipped with rescue vehicles and helicopters to the Mississippi coast.
Tags: Katrina, Natural Disasters, Mississippi, New Orleans, flood aid, Hurricane Katrina
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