May 29, 2008, 7:55PM
Mexican president says US must help more with drug war


By MARION LLOYD
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle Foreign Service


MEXICO CITY — The United States needs to do more to help Mexico battle narcotics gangs, since Mexican police are dying in a war fueled largely by U.S. drug consumption, Mexico's president said Thursday.

"The drug-trafficking problem, that has been and continues to be the principle cause of border violence, comes down to one undeniable fact: the American narcotics market is the biggest in the world,'' President Felipe Calderon told a meeting of U.S. and Mexican border governors in Mexico City.

Gangland violence has killed some 4,000 Mexicans since Calderon unleashed his anti-narcotics offensive in January 2007. While many of the victims are suspected members of the drug cartels, an increasing number are soldiers and federal police, who are on the frontlines of the drug war.

On Monday, seven federal police officers were mowed down in the violence-torn city of Culiacan by narcotics gangs armed with grenades and AK-47 assault rifles.

"While Mexican police die fighting this battle every day, the majority of the consumers are Americans,''' Calderon said.

The U.S. Senate last week approved $350 million in anti-narcotics aid to Mexico under the provisions of the Merida Initiative, a multi-year, $1.4 billion program advocated by President Bush for Mexico and Central America. However the bill conditions that aid on Mexico reigning in human rights abuses by soldiers.

Calderon complained about the strings attached to the funds in Thursday's meeting, said Texas Gov. Rick Perry. He said he explained to Calderon that the bill was a federal matter. But he proposed that he and the governors of New Mexico, Arizona and California work harder to fight domestic drug consumption at the state level.

Perry said he also offered to lobby the federal government to crack down on arms smuggling into Mexico.

Mexican officials accuse Washington of turning a blind eye to the flood of illegal weapons flowing south into Mexico and into the arms of the drug gangs.

Perry said he was following the debate on the Merida Initiative in Washington. But, he said, "I'm more concerned about the results of getting an agreement where we can collaborate and fight these drug dealers and win this war that would poison our kids.''

He said the governors also discussed with their Mexican counterparts the growing reliance in the U.S. on grain-based ethanol, which is pushing up food prices in Mexico, while hitting Texas farmers. He is lobbying the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to slash by 50 percent the amount of grain-based ethanol used in gasoline.
must help more with drug war.

Its called supply and demand El Presidente , don`t even try to act innocent

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