US ambassador: US-Mexico drug war aid on track

By The Associated Press
Thursday, December 3, 2009 at 12:15 p.m.

McALLEN, Texas — The U.S. ambassador to Mexico says programs to provide more than $1.1 billion in equipment and training to help Mexico fight organized crime are on track.

Ambassador Carlos Pascual's comments followed the release Thursday of a government report showing that just about $24 million had been spent by the end of September. Congress appropriated the first $400 million for Mexico as part of the Merida Initiative in June 2008.

Pascal said Thursday that expenditures had increased several times since the report was completed. The report by the Government Accountability Office blamed bureaucracy, conditions placed on the funds by Congress and preparations in recipient countries for slow implementation of the $1.4 billion anti-drug trafficking program.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009 ... -on-track/