Clinton heads to Mexico for two-day diplomatic visit By Chris Hawley, USA TODAY

MEXICO CITY — Mexico's bloody war with drug cartels tops the agenda Wednesday as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrives in Mexico City for a two-day visit aimed at easing strained relations between the neighboring countries.

Clinton arrives a day after the U.S. government announced a raft of measures aimed at stemming the flow of guns and drug profits southward to Mexico. They were hailed by the Mexican government.

On Tuesday, the Obama administration announced a plan that includes sending hundreds of federal agents, along with high-tech surveillance gear and drug-sniffing dogs to the Southwest border.

"These are important actions of support for the fight that President Felipe Calderón´s government is carrying out," Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa said on Tuesday.

The praise followed months of tense relations between the two countries.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., chairman of the Homeland Security Department's oversight committee, said on Wednesday he wants the federal government to spend more money to help Mexico fight drug cartels and keep violence from spilling across the U.S.-Mexico border.

Testifying before Lieberman's committee, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said her agency is able to send more law enforcement to the border with existing funds.

In November, the Pentagon outraged Mexican officials with a report suggesting that the country was on the verge of political collapse because of the drug violence. The Mexican government has accused members of the U.S. Congress of exaggerating the unrest during their hearings on the subject this month.

In February, the U.S. House irked Mexico, Canada and other free-trade partners by requiring that U.S.-made materials be used in any projects stemming from President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan. The U.S. Senate later watered down the so-called "Buy America" clause.

Then in March, the Democrat-Congress canceled funding for a pilot program allowing Mexican trucks into the United States.

Mexico claims the cancellation is a violation of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement. Last week it retaliated by slapping tariffs on $2.4 billion of U.S. exports.

"These (sanctions) are not about eroding NAFTA or worsening our international relations, but simply using our rights {hellip} to protect fair commerce," Calderón said during a speech on Tuesday.

Clinton's visit is aimed at smoothing things over before a visit by Obama himself on April 16-17, said Jesús Abel Sánchez, director of the International Studies Department at the Autonomous University of Sinaloa.

The most pressing issue is Mexico's drug-related violence, Sánchez said.

Mexico launched a military crackdown on the country's main drug cartels soon after Calderón took office in December 2006. The offensive has netted thousands of drug suspects, but has also created power vacuums in smuggling corridors like Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez.

The traffickers have stepped up their battles against the army and each other in the last year. Turf wars have also flared in U.S. cities like Atlanta, Houston and Phoenix.

"Our role is to assist in this battle because we have our own security interest in its success," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on Tuesday.

Clinton will meet with President Calderón and Espinosa, the foreign minister, on Wednesday. On Thursday she will visit a training center for federal police in Mexico City.

Clinton then travels to the northern city of Monterrey to tour a power plant fueled by landfill waste. Both Mexico and the United States are trying to develop new clean-energy technologies.

Hawley is the Latin America reporter for USA Today and The Arizona Republic
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