Thread: U.S. may boost aid to fight drug trafficking in Mexico

U.S. may boost aid to fight drug trafficking in Mexico

Plan highlights concern that violence could move north of border


12:00 AM CDT on Thursday, May 10, 2007
By ALFREDO CORCHADO / The Dallas Morning News
acorchado@dallasnews.com

WASHINGTON – The U.S. and Mexican governments are discussing a plan to significantly expand U.S. assistance to Mexico to fight drug traffickers and their widening violence, officials from both countries say.

The plan, formally called a "regional security initiative," would represent a departure for the Mexican government, which has accepted only limited U.S. aid in the past out of a sense of nationalism and fears that more significant aid would come with strings attached. It would also represent an acknowledgment by Mexico that its military-led offensive against drug traffickers is falling short of its goal of controlling violence.

The plan underscores U.S. concerns that violence in Mexico could continue to spill over into the United States, a U.S. official said.

"What we [now] get from the U.S. doesn't correspond with the size of the challenge we face, and that has to change if we are to be more effective against a common enemy," Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora said Wednesday in a phone interview from Madrid, Spain, where he was attending the International Drug Enforcement Conference. "That's the issue on the table."

Mr. Medina Mora said he has had several discussions with his U.S. counterparts during the conference about continuing efforts "to deepen our cooperation in a more articulate, systematic way in order to be more effective."

Drug trafficking groups, he said, are transnational organizations with distribution routes and consumer markets beyond Mexico. "There's a greater realization that this is a shared responsibility," he said.

Some officials involved in the discussions referred to the effort as Plan Mexico, an apparent reference to the multibillion-dollar U.S. assistance program known as Plan Colombia, which is designed to fight cocaine producers and their rebel allies in that South American nation. But U.S. and Mexican officials, including Mr. Medina Mora, denied that the amount of assistance for Mexico would be on the scale of Plan Colombia.

Officials involved in the discussions provided few details but said the Mexico plan is aimed at "significantly" enhancing U.S. aid to bolster the nation's telecommunications and its ability to monitor its airspace, as well as providing other assistance to Mexico and parts of Central America to battle drug traffickers, transnational gangs and potential terrorists.

In Mexico, the plan also calls for strengthening existing programs aimed at professionalizing Mexico's police, strengthening the rule of law and providing law enforcement with technologies that will enable them to take on drug traffickers equipped with advanced weapons, electronic monitoring systems and aircraft.

Most of the officials spoke about the plan on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitive nature of the talks. They said the negotiations were being kept quiet because they are in the early stages. Participants also said they want to keep from raising public expectations too high and from overshadowing talks on immigration policy.

"We don't want to muddy the waters," said a U.S. official familiar with the negotiations.


'Co-responsibility'

Officials stressed that the plan, first put together by the Mexican government's intelligence service, known as CISEN, faces several obstacles, possibly in the U.S. Congress and from Mexican domestic politics. In Mexico, even the hint of greater U.S. involvement taps into deep-seated fears of a loss of Mexican sovereignty.

But Mexico is capable of monitoring less than 50 percent of its airspace, one U.S. official said, leaving the country vulnerable to "brutal drug traffickers" as they fly in their drug shipments from South America.

Officials also stressed that the plan would address the U.S. demand side along with the Mexican supply side.

"This isn't about charity," said a senior Mexican law enforcement official. "This is a matter of co-responsibility and mutual trust."

"The so-called Plan Mexico is a mixture of enhancing cooperation and coordination and providing Mexico with skills and tools to be more efficient," said Armand Peschard-Sverdrup, director of the Mexico Project for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a research organization in Washington. "If we're serious about helping President Calderón, then we have to move beyond just information-sharing and provide Mexico with the tools and other infrastructure means to help Mexico modernize."

For now, Mr. Peschard-Sverdrup added, the two sides are trying to find the middle ground of cooperation.

"The United States will ask for more cooperation than Mexico is prepared to provide, and Mexico is asking for more financial assistance than the United States is willing to give," he said. "My sense is that the Mexicans want to be very careful in terms of what they ask for, and the Americans are worried about the Mexicans providing a shopping list. There is no free lunch here for either side."


Different from Colombia

Under Plan Colombia, the South American nation has received about $5 billion in U.S. assistance over the last six years to fight rebel groups and the illicit drug trade. But the situation in Mexico is different because guerrilla groups are not waging war against the government, officials noted, and they cautioned against comparing the two countries.

"There is absolutely no talk of U.S. military involvement here," the senior Mexican law enforcement official said. "The issue hasn't even been raised by either side. Any new cooperation between the two countries must be politically sustained. Mexico has to feel comfortable with that."

Some critics of Plan Colombia are taking a wait-and-see approach on the Mexico plan.

"The devil is in the details," said Maureen Meyers, associate of the Washington Office on Latin America's Mexico Project.

"The U.S. has a big responsibility in Mexico, especially on the issue of security, but this is not just a question of throwing money at the problem. There are a lot of things the U.S. has to do, like drug treatment programs, etc."

Mexico receives about $40 million a year for anti-drug efforts, compared with an estimated $146 million for Peru and about $600 million for Colombia, according to the State Department and the Center for International Policy, a Washington-based think tank.

Mr. Medina Mora, the attorney general, met recently in Washington with high-ranking Bush administration officials, including Attorney General Al Gonzales.

Mr. Medina Mora also met with U.S. legislators, including Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

"I did meet with the attorney general, and we discussed several ways in which we can further assist them in dealing with the violence throughout Mexico," said Mr. Reyes, adding that he is planning congressional hearings this fall on Mexico's drug violence and its impact on border security.

Mr. Reyes is co-sponsor of a bill that calls for $170 million a year in assistance to Mexico over four years.

"I have been very impressed with the job that President Calderón is doing to address border violence. I like his commitment," Mr. Reyes said. "We believe we need to do more on our part to help Mexico become a more secure country."


More to do

While recent U.S.-Mexico cooperation has drawn praise, officials on both sides insist that more must be done. Mexican officials complain about the flow of illegal weapons from the United States, contributing to the nearly 3,000 drug-related killings in the last 18 months.

Since 2003, a turf war between the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels has also led to a wave of kidnappings, including the abduction of more than 40 Americans in the border region near Laredo.

The border violence has also been marked by beheadings, grenade attacks and the use of military-style weapons, including bazookas, grenade launchers and .50-caliber machine guns.

Officials said the idea for increased U.S. aid was broached by President-elect Felipe Calderón during his first meeting with President Bush in November at the White House. During Mr. Bush's brief visit to Mexico in March, the two presidents signed an agreement recognizing that the fight against organized crime in Mexico could be boosted with sustained support from the United States.

"Mexico needs to be secured in order for the United States to be secured, and in all honesty, we're not doing enough on our end," said Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, a member of House Select Committee on Homeland Security. "We provide more resources and much more attention to the Middle East than we do for our own back yard. We simply have to be more engaged with what's going on in Mexico, or we will pay the price later."

In a recent report, the Austin-based public policy intelligence firm Stratfor warned that the ongoing military anti-drug campaign is targeting the Zetas, the enforcement arm of the Gulf cartel. As a result, the report said, the paramilitary group may flee north across the U.S. border.

"Years of operating in towns along the U.S.-Mexico border has allowed the Zetas to form close relationships with a number of criminals and organized crime organizations in the United States," said Fred Burton, vice president of counterterrorism and corporate security.

"Some, in fact, already have been associated with killings as far north as Dallas. There also is far more money to be made in the United States. ... It is highly likely that a number of Zetas will find their way to U.S. cities."

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Mexico needs to be secured in order for the United States to be secured, and in all honesty, we're not doing enough on our end," said Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, a member of House Select Committee on Homeland Security. "We provide more resources and much more attention to the Middle East than we do for our own back yard. We simply have to be more engaged with what's going on in Mexico, or we will pay the price later."

Why is Messyco our financial burden? Nobody is donating to fix our borders with Messyco. We need to build a wall, seal off Messyco, cut off the freebies, kill the 14th amendment, imprison the employers of illegals and the majority will self deport. Those that are in jail should be dropped on the other side of the wall back into Messyco. Let them figure out how to solve their own problems, after all they created their mess and most of ours. If they can't manage off of the tens of millions they are receiving in aid now why would throwing good money after bad remedy the problem? If they no longer have us as a dumping ground for their worthless population and source of income they will have no choice but to clean up their own mess or cease to exist. Either way, they are not our problem.