Mid-term exam Question №1

Mexico–Guatemala conflict²
The Mexico–Guatemala conflict was an armed conflict between the countries of Mexico and Guatemala, in which Mexican civilian fishing boats were fired upon by the Guatemalan Air Force. Hostilities were set in motion by the installation of Miguel Ydígoras as President of Guatemala on March 2, 1958.
Background
Since November 1956 the Guatemalan and Mexican governments had quarreled over the crossing of the Guatemalan border by Mexican citizens. On November 8, 1957, the Guatemalan Foreign Minister, Adolfo Orantes, sent a diplomatic letter to the Mexican government which detailed the complaints of the Guatemalan government. Orantes said that Mexican shrimping boats were frequently crossing the nautical border into Guatemala to fish. He also reported that trees were being cut down by Mexican workers in the northernmost Guatemalan province of Petén. As protests in Guatemala City spoke out against the policies of the government, newly elected President Ydígoras sought to set up faux nationalist causes in order to quell the spread of more civil unrest.
The President's administration capitalized on the complaints filed by the Foreign Minister several months prior. Ydígoras voiced concerns regarding illegal Mexican forays into Guatemala to the Mexican government; such concerns were met with a diplomatic note from the Mexican Secretariat of Foreign Affairs, which stated that it could simply do nothing to identify the crews of fishing vessels that crossed the border, despite the strong presence of the Mexican Navy in the region.
Preparation
The commander of the Guatemalan Air Force (Spanish: Fuerza Aérea Guatemalteca, or FAG), Luis de Leon Urrutia, was ordered to develop a plan to locate and destroy foreign ships in Guatemalan territory. Less than 24 hours preceding the order, a team formed by Urrutia had come up with Operation Drake, which, on December 30, was both approved and called to action by Ydígoras.
Commencement of violence
On the afternoon of December 30, 1958, a group of Guatemalan AT-6 Texan aircraft surveyed the scene of the reported fishing to ensure the Mexican vessels were still there. The following morning, a flight of one Cessna 180, one C-47 and two P-51 Mustangs took off from the Guatemalan mainland and observed a group of eight Mexican fishing boats. Five of the eight were a mere 2.5–3 kilometres (1+1⁄2–2 mi) off the coast of the Guatemalan municipality of Champerico. The fishermen responded to the arrival of the fighter-bombers with jeers and obscene gestures.
When one boat, the Elizabeth, made a move for the Mexican border, the planes strafed the ships with their machine guns. By the time the shooting had ceased, three fishermen were left dead and fourteen were rendered stranded and wounded in Guatemalan territory.