Black boxes from plane crash that killed No. 2 in Mexico's government Juan Camilo Mouriño sent to US

And yet this is the source of much of the tension within Mexico these days, a result of a silent struggle between those who would want to see this religious fervor reflected in its laws and governance, and those who would keep faith and politics separate and isolated from each other.

Mexico has struggled for much of its history to create a secular state, limiting, if not curtailing entirely, the influence the Church wields in the public space. When we ask who Mexico’s national hero is, we’re told it’s Benito Juarez who in the 19th century led anti-clerical forces in creating a “real” separation between Church and State, with laws enacted preventing any sort of participation in public affairs by priests and bishops, and even outlawing the wearing of priestly garb in public.

But those restrictions have eased considerably since, with reproductive health activists tracing this to 1992 when then President Carlos Salinas, in the context of a global focus on human rights, responded to complaints about violations of the human rights of the clergy by repealing anti-clerical laws.

El presidente mexicano, Felipe Calderón, prometió hoy esclarecer a fondo las muertes del secretario de Gobernación, Juan Camilo Mouriño, y de su equipo de colaboradores, ocurridas en un accidente aéreo este martes, en pleno Distrito Federal.

Two flight recorders from a plane crash that killed Mexico's No. 2 government official were sent to the U.S. for examination, officials said Thursday, amid widespread speculation - but no evidence - that drug cartels were to blame.

Both "black boxes" were found where the Learjet 45 slammed into rush-hour traffic in a posh Mexico City neighborhood, Transportation Secretary Luis Tellez said at a news conference. Five people on the ground and nine people on the plane were killed in Tuesday's crash, including Interior Secretary Juan Camilo Mourino.

Officials say they have few clues as to why the plane suddenly dropped from the evening sky.

Mexican officials looking into the plane crash that killed Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mourino have given the aircraft's data recorders to U.S. analysts, Communication and Transportation Minister Luis Tellez said.

Mexican investigators delivered the so-called black boxes to a laboratory at the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board yesterday as they seek to determine why the plane plunged onto a Mexico City street Nov. 4, Tellez said in a news conference today. The crash killed all nine onboard and at least five people on the ground. Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, the country's former chief drug prosecutor, also died in the crash.

The death of Mourino, one of President Felipe Calderon's closest friends and staunchest political allies, may weaken the president politically and compromise his battle against drug traffickers. Mourino, 37, was a key negotiator with the opposition and oversaw the fight against the cartels that have killed more than 4,000 people in Mexico this year.

``This contributes to the general feeling among the public that the situation is out of control,'' said Howard Campbell, a professor of anthropology at the University of Texas at El Paso and an expert on Mexico's drug war.

Tellez has said there's no evidence suggesting the crash was anything other than an accident.

Regardless of the cause, Mexicans will see it as yet another violent event tied to the drug war, which may erode support, Campbell said. Deaths have skyrocketed this year as the military battles cartels and gangs retaliate by beheading enemies, intimidating the public and attacking civilians.