Helicopter crash kills Mexico minister

Mexico's interior minister, Francisco Blake Mora, has died in a helicopter crash that killed seven others including the pilot, officials said. Blake Mora was on his way to a prosecutors' meeting in the neighboring state of Morelos when the helicopter crashed in southern Mexico City, Britain's Daily Telegraph reported Friday. Appointed interior secretary in July 2010, he was President Felipe Calderon's point man in the government's war against organized crime and the drug cartels. Born in Tijuana, Baja California, in 1966, Blake Mora was a federal deputy and secretary-general of the government of Baja California from 2007-2009, El Sol de Mexico reported. The secretary of the interior is the country's top official under the president, responsible for internal political affairs and security. A previous interior secretary, Juan Camilo Mourino, died in a plane crash in Mexico City in November 2008.