[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 7163-7164]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            BLACKBERRY CAPER

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, last week, President Bush and President 
Calderon of Mexico met in New Orleans to discuss mutual concerns of 
both nations, such as trade. Electronic devices by staff are not 
permitted in these meetings, and are left on a table outside the room.
  After the high level talks concluded, a senior official with Mexico, 
Rafael Curiel, was caught on video grabbing seven White House 
BlackBerrys off the outside table. He was nabbed with the booty by the 
Secret Service at the airport as he was about to make good his getaway.
  He gave numerous contradictory accounts about why he had the White 
House BlackBerrys. Then he said he was innocent. When all else failed, 
he claimed diplomatic immunity, and left the United States for Mexico.

[[Page 7164]]

  Mr. Speaker, Rafael Curiel is just misunderstood. Obviously, when the 
White House discussion centered around free trade with the two 
countries, Curiel took the phrase ``free trade'' literally and did a 
little free trading on his own with those American BlackBerrys.
  Mexico has since fired the free trader.
  And that's just the way it is.

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