Saturday, May 24, 2008 - Page updated at 12:33 AM

Mexico irritated as Congress trims Bush anti-drug plan
By MARC LACEY

The New York Times

MEXICO CITY -- The U.S. Congress has scaled back President Bush's anti-drug plans for Mexico and put human-rights conditions on some of the aid, drawing fire from some Mexicans who accuse U.S. lawmakers of meddling in their country's internal affairs.

The Bush administration has pointed to a recent surge of violence as evidence of the need for the so-called Mérida Initiative, the spending deal struck last year by Bush and Mexico's president, Felipe Calderón. But Congress was left out of loop, resulting in hard feelings when Bush submitted the plan.

As part of a broader emergency appropriations bill that remains under discussion and could face a presidential veto, the Senate on Thursday approved $350 million to aid Mexico in what has become a pitched battle against drug trafficking. The Senate also would give $100 million to Central American countries that are in drug wars of their own, as well as to the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

Language in bill

Besides reducing the Bush administration's request, which would have sent $500 million to Mexico and $50 million to Central America, the Senate adopted language similar to that in a recently passed House bill that would hold up a quarter of the money until the State Department ruled that Mexico was meeting certain human-rights markers.

The House approved $400 million for Mexico, one of several differences that will be worked out in a House-Senate conference in coming weeks.

The Senate measure still represents a major increase in aid to Mexico in a single year, legislative aides said, reflecting bipartisan concern over the fact that an estimated 90 percent of cocaine entering the United States comes through Mexico.

Since Calderón launched his drug war in 2007, more than 200 law-enforcement officers have been killed, among them at least two dozen top commanders. The overall body count is estimated to be 1,300 people this year.

At issue is the performance of Mexico's army and the police, which have been accused by human-rights organizations of engaging in abuses as they chase down drug cartels.

"Human-rights abuses in the army are routinely investigated by the military itself, and that leads to impunity," said Tamara Taraciuk, Mexico researcher for Human Rights Watch. "The big issue is accountability."

To address that, the congressional plans ask the secretary of state to report on whether Mexico was barring testimony obtained through torture and trying soldiers accused of abuses in civilian courts, among other conditions.

The trims to the president's plan, and the strings attached by U.S. lawmakers, clearly irked some Mexicans.

Behind the scenes

The Mexican government was working to soften some of the legislative language, congressional aides said.

The newspaper La Jornada said in an editorial this week that it was "a grotesque and absurd pretension" that the U.S., which has human-rights issues of its own in its prison in Guantánamo Bay, should be scrutinizing Mexico's armed forces.

Bush's plan called for spending for military hardware, mostly helicopters, but also programs to root out corruption within law-enforcement agencies and increase the protection of witnesses. Congressional plans would scrutinize money directed to the army.

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