A compact with Mexico
Monday, October 29, 2007

A White House pledge of $1.4 billion to Mexico to stem the northward flood of drugs comes loaded with problems and doubts. But on one score the package succeeds: The two countries are at last cooperating on a serious subject.

Illegal immigration and trade are far bigger concerns and remain radioactive, too hot for Washington to touch. But drugs are a close third in importance, and the surge in trafficking has never gotten the attention it deserves. Both sides prefer easy stereotypes of each other: Mexico is hopelessly corrupt and the U.S. is obsessed with immigration only.

The aid agreement could produce a thaw in these frozen positions. The three-year package includes planes, speedboats and helicopters to hunt shipments, police training and tech hardware to search cargo for hidden drugs. It will allow Mexico's president Felipe Calderon to further a high-profile drive against narco-gangs blamed for 2,000 killings last year and spreading drug use.

For President Bush, it's a chance to re-start relations on tough topic. After warm moments in the opening days of his first term, cross-border relations have steadily chilled culminating with this summer's failed immigration reforms.

The anti-drug aid is already labeled by doubters as Plan Mexico, a mocking title comparing it to Plan Colombia, a similar effort which has cost $5 billion over seven years and brought in U.S. advisers. That initiative shored up a weak government facing civil war but did little to stem cocaine exports. The Mexico package won't include the U.S. military and comes with a smaller price tag.

There are other doubts. When pressure's applied, drug channels have a nasty habit of finding new routes to U.S. cities. Also, the aid does nothing to diminish this country's appetite for cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. Legislators in both countries are also annoyed at being left out of the deal-making.

So what can Yankee dollars do? The money buys time for Mexico's Calderon-directed house-cleaning. It tells entrenched gangs that their murderous hold on border areas and supply routes won't go unchallenged.

Just as important is the political quotient.

Stamping out a thriving trade may be the long term goal, but there's a more immediate reward as well. The aid agreement knits together the frayed ties between Washington and Mexico, and that's no small thing.
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