TIJUANA-- Baja California's political, military and business elite paid posthumous tribute to Mexico's Interior Minister Francisco Blake Mora and two of his colleagues at midday Sunday at the Cultural Center.

The speakers at the memorial service at the center's theater recalled the professional and political careers of Blake, 45, and of José Alfredo García, 39, and Diana Miriam Hayton, 35, who were the ministry's communication chief and technical secretary, respectively, all Tijuana natives.

The three and five other high-ranking officials in Mexico's federal government died Friday when their helicopter crashed while flying from Mexico City to Cuernavaca.

Blake's ashes were on display on the stage, as were three large photos of the victims. The estimated 1,500 people who jammed the theater were somber-faced and those in the first two rows, which included the victims' family members, were visibly shaken.

"We have more than ample reasons to miss them ... They were three Mexicans who died at the peak of their careers and of their lives," said Baja California Gov. José Guadalupe Osuna, who was the main speaker at the tribute.

The governor recalled Blake's "impressive ability to listen" and forge agreements during all of the public posts he held. He spoke of Blake's work as Baja California's Government Minister "when raging violence" threatened the community in the years 2008 to 2010, and the assistance he provided after a powerful quake shook Mexicali in April of 2010.

The officials in attendance included Josefina Vázquez Mota, a presidential aspirant for the PAN party; Gen. Alfonso Duarte Mújica, commander of the Second Military Region; former governor Ernesto Ruffo; businessman José Galicot, co-creator of Tijuana Innovadora; Baja California Attorney General Rommel Moreno and other state secretaries, mayors and business leaders. All paid their respects to Blake's widow, Gloria Cossío, who was inconsolable.

After the tribute, Blake's ashes were taken to Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral, in the Río zone, where a Mass was given in his honor at 1 p.m.

The cause of the helicopter crash remains under investigation. Mexico invited the U.S. National Transportation and Safety Board to assist in the probe and one of its teams arrived in that country over the weekend.

omar.millan@sandiegored.com