DN reports today [article in Swedish] of Shahriar Vatanijalal, a Swedish citizen, who went to Mexico to dive outside the coast. When standing in queue for passport control in Cancàºn, officials picked him out: they asked what his purpose with the flight was, why he hadn't booked a hotel in advance, why he had so little baggage with him and only 180 US dollars on his pocket. They didn't care that he had a VISA card. They then briskly informed him that he had the "wrong tourist profile" and was hence not allowed entrance to Mexico.

The officials didn't let him contact the Swedish embassy or consulate, and was escorted onto the next plane back to Sweden by three guards.

A spokesperson from the Mexican embassy in Sweden comments this by saying: "Mexico is a very tourist-friendly country." That's nice.

Shahriar was not reimbursed by the travel agency in any way. Their spokesperson says: "It's the traveller's responsibility to make sure that he or she meets the demands of the authorities in the country they're travelling to."

Oh, sorry. Hence: you can't expect to get into Mexico unless you fit their "tourist profile", whatever the hell that is, as I can't find a clue about it on any Mexican web page I've scoured. Fascist fucks.

Speaking of insanity, isn't the story surrounding the release of Giuliana Sgrena, an Italian kidnap victim who was released and then almost killed by the American army, a tad strange? Here's a quick recap of the story so far:

Sgrena is a political journalist who was kidnapped in Iraq. She was released a few days ago, thanks to diplomatic dialogue. On the way to freedom, travelling in a jeep with Italian secret service agent Nicola Calipari, they were shot by American forces who fired 300-400 rounds of ammunition at them. Sgrena was hit in one of her shoulders, yet Calipari fared much worse and died in Sgrena's arms.

From EuroNews:

The Americans claim the Italians' vehicle had been seen as a threat because it was travelling at speed and failed to stop at a checkpoint near Baghdad airport, despite warning shots.

Not true, said Sgrena during her debriefing.

According to her, the car was not going fast and had already passed several checkpoints. Rather the Americans shone a flashlight at them and fired between 300 and 400 bullets.

Then, instead of calling for assistance, the troops' first move was reportedly to confiscate the Italians' weapons and mobile phones.

I hope Sgrena writes something lengthy about this, soon.