Rather, it was an MK 25 marine marker. According to The Ordinance Shop:
"The MK 25...marine location markers are launched from aircraft or surface craft. They are launched from aircraft to provide day or night reference points for marking the course of enemy submarines in antisubmarine warfare operations. They are suitable for any type of sea-surface reference-point marking that calls for both smoke and flame for a period of 10 to 20 minutes... The Mk 25 marker consists of a cylindrical outer tube about 18.5 inches long and 2.9 inches in diameter. A valve assembly is fitted into the projecting chimney at the marker's nose end. The smoke and flame are emitted from this opening. At the opposite end is a heavier aluminum base assembly to which the outer tube is crimped. The heavy base end causes the marker to float in the water with the chimney out of the water and the base in the water."
Here's a photo of what the hotel employee actually found:
Here is an image of what the Mexican authorities claimed they found to El Universal:
Now, I suppose that after enough tequila, you might mistake the marine marker for the very front end of the missile portion of an SA-7. Still, this is yet another example of the Mexican authorities greatly exaggerating claims of high-powered weapons they've seized, or in this case, stumbled upon. If you remember, I posted a couple of weeks ago on a .50-caliber Browning "anti-aircraft" weapon that the Mexican authorities seized from a BLO stash. It wasn't even a real Browning, but a replica manufactured in Oregon. Why do the Mexican authorities invent these claims? Probably a couple of reasons; to make themselves and their efforts look better than they are, or to make the DTOs look more well-equipped and dangerous than they are so they can receive more counter-drug funding. I'm just speculating, but in this kind of war, one-upmanship means quite a bit to the parties involved.
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