White House issues a statment: "Obama not exposed to flu"

As a new update to my blog post of last Saturday, The White House has issued a statement —with info from the Mexican embassy— to try to quell the speculations regarding the possible exposure of Obama to the swine flu virus outbreak in Mexico, as you can read in this article.

They even went so far and to issue a Q&A:

1. Was Felipe Solis the President's tour guide in Mexico city, and did he die of swine flu?

No .The Mexican embassy has issued a statement clarifying that Mr. Solis's death was not caused by swine flu.

Statement from Ricardo Alday, spokesman for the Mexican Embassy to the United States of America:

"Mr. Felipe Solís, Director of Mexico's National Anthropology Museum died on April 23rd, a week after he welcomed Presidents Obama and Calderón
at the Museum. He died of complications of a preexisting condition and not of swine flu.

2. Did Mexican authorities notify US officials about the swine flu issue in advance of the President's visit?

No they did not, but we have no reason to believe they withheld any information they had at the time. White House Medical Unit staff on the ground asked Mexican health officials and US embassy medical staff about any concerns regarding infectious disease, and were informed that there were none.

3. When did the US learn about the swine flu situation in Mexico?

As John Brennan of the Homeland Security Council indicated in this afternoon's briefing, we did not learn about the swine flu cases in Mexico until late last week.

Note that there's no mention whatsoever about Veratect's alleged warning to the CDC about the development of a health problem in Mexico since as early as the end of March.

The White House seems to trust the Mexican government in not deliberately withholding info on the swine flu problem prior to Obama's visit. Maybe they haven't heard yet about the complaint of the inhabitants of La Gloria about the health hazards provoked by the irresponsible waste management of Granjas Carrol.

As I have written previously, I do not believe on a sinister conspiracy involving the Mexican government to try to threaten the life of Obama; that would be just stupid: what gain could Mexico possibly get from all that?

No, what I think happened here is the usual series of incompetent decisions that characterize the Mexican government and its officials. Only that can explain tragic events like the death of one of President Calderón's closest collaborators last year.

And the fact that the CDC might have forgotten to inform the White House about the warning the received from Veratect, reminds us that incompetence can be expected on both sides of the border (Katrina, anyone?).

So, if there was a conspiracy, it might have been from middle-level officers trying to cover up their short-sightedness, not a NWO master plan.

[UPDATE]: Read this AP article about the criticism the Mexican government is getting for the outbreak.

It remained unclear where and how the epidemic began, how it has spread, who it has killed or how fast it is growing. And the government has yet to take some basic steps critical to containing any outbreak, such as quick treatment of people who had contact with the victims.

[...]But even as it did so, [the government] acknowledged the outbreak began earlier than April 12, the date it had previously linked to the first case. Cordova confirmed Monday that a 4-year-old boy who was part of an outbreak in eastern Veracruz state that began in February had swine flu. He later recovered.

Residents of the town of Perote said at the time that they had a new, aggressive bug — even taking to the streets to demonstrate against the pig farm they blamed for their illness — but were told they were suffering from a typical flu. It was only after U.S. labs confirmed a swine flu outbreak that Mexican officials sent the boy's sample in for swine flu testing.

Mexico's Agriculture Department said Monday that inspectors found no sign of swine flu among pigs around the farm in Veracruz, and that no infected pigs have been found yet anywhere in Mexico.

I swear this is the last update I'll make today. I'm going home now. Hopefully I won't dream with Jameske's flying pigs :-P