philstar.com

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A search of several Mexican lawmakers' offices tu= rned up recording equipment, leading legislators to believe they have been sp= ied on for years, a congressman said Wednesday.
Congressman Armando Ri= os said security personnel found microphones and other devices that seem= ed to have been installed years ago.

"Some of the equipment has newe= r technology, but other devices are from a long time ago, which leads u= s to believe they were installed years ago," said Rios, a member of the le= ftist Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD

Rios said the offices of k= ey committees and of several lawmakers from different political parties = were bugged.

"What is at stake is the vulnerability of the legislat= ure, of one of the powers of the union," Rios said.

Congress presid= ent Guadalupe Acosta, also of the PRD, on Tuesday filed a complaint with= federal prosecutors, who opened an investigation.

Acosta would= n't identify the lawmakers who were being spied on or who he thinks was b= ehind the espionage. Rios blamed the government of President Felipe Caldero= n, who belongs to the conservative National Action Party, or PAN.
Int= erior Secretary Alejandro Poire denied Rios' accusations and said the gover= nment has done nothing illegal.

Mexico's main intelligence agency allegedly spied on the government's political opponents during the 71= years of rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.

After PAN candidate Vicente Fox won the 2000 presidential= election, he announced that the agency, the Center for National Secur= ity and Investigation, would no longer spy on political opponents. But in= 2008, under Calderon, the agency hired a private company to monitor t= he activities of legislators.

Legislators complained they were be= ing spied on but the government said it was simply collecting public information.

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