U.S.: Rice to Mexico for talks on drugs, other issues

REUTERS

10:42 a.m. October 21, 2008

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice makes her first solo visit to Mexico this week for talks on U.S. help in Mexico's battle against drug gangs as well as other issues, the State Department said Tuesday.

Rice plans to meet Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa and other officials Wednesday and Thursday in the Pacific tourist resort of Puerto Vallarta.

She has traveled to Mexico with President Bush and met Espinosa elsewhere, but this is her first solo trip to the country as secretary of state, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
With the Bush administration leaving office in January, it is also likely to be her last such trip.

“I'd expect that she will have some extensive conversations about the program (of) cooperation that's represented by the Merida Initiative,â€