Thread: Exclamation Release of the 2009 International Narcotics Co

http://www.state.gov/p/inl/rls/rm/119890.htm

International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Remarks (2009)

Release of the 2009 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report

Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs David T. Johnson
Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs
Washington, DC
February 27, 2009

Video
http://www.state.gov/video/?videoid=14369604001


MR. DUGUID: Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to this special briefing on the release of the 2009 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report. We have to brief you today Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs David T. Johnson

QUESTION: Sir, you mentioned the Merida Initiative. I was wondering how much is the Department asking for the third installment of the Merida Initiative in the current – you know, the budget that was proposed yesterday?

QUESTION: But it’s true that you won’t reach the 1.4 billion that was proposed originally, right?

QUESTION: You point out that, you know, the three areas or two countries – well, three countries, I guess, but also Mexico, Afghanistan, Bolivia, but you also mentioned broader Latin America, but you didn’t mention Venezuela. But I’m just curious are these the most pressing threats to the – to the national security? I mean, the report says that these – this is a – you know, the drug trade itself in general is --

QUESTION: Well, why is it – why are these places then the place where you have the greatest investment?

QUESTION: How serious is the situation in Mexico right now?


QUESTION: How big a threat is this violence, growing violence on the border to the U.S. and to have it, you know, sort of lapping across the border and coming to --

QUESTION: This is the first time the reports mention now Mexico is a major precursor of chemicals source country. I don’t see how Mexico is winning the war on drugs. Now it’s a major source for the purchase of chemicals and money laundering and drugs and killings in Mexico. How Mexico is winning the war with this – I mean, with this level of corruption that you mention in the report as a major problem to win the war on drugs in Mexico?

QUESTION: Last thing, on the Merida Initiative. This week the House of Representatives got $150 million for the Merida Initiative for the second year. The original request was $450 million for Mexico and they approved three hundred. How these can be read in Mexico as support from the United States to the war on drugs, when your – the U.S. Congress is cutting money to help Mexico in that war? And what are you guys doing to stop the consumption of drugs in the U.S. ?

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QUESTION: And a lot of the major complaints of Mexican officials on the U.S. is the lack of cooperation to stop the flow of weapons from the U.S. to Mexico. Is there any chance for the U.S. Administration to halt the traffic, to ban imported arms? Or it’s hard to deal with issue because of the U.S. legislation, especially the Second Amendment?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY JOHNSON: Well, this is a challenge for a number of reasons, not least the – that the controls going from north to south are not that strict. So as you pass from north to south, the level of inspection is not as granular, shall we say, as headed in the other direction.
But I would say that we have taken a couple of very significant steps that are contributing to helping Mexico deal with this and helping us deal with it. The provision at all of our consulates in Mexico over the course of the last year of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, eTrace program, giving Mexican law enforcement the ability rapidly to determine the origin of weapons that have been seized, both to help them and to help us in prosecutions. And I think if you saw earlier this week, the announcement of a significant case involving a gun dealer who had been engaged in conspiracy for straw purchases.
So I think it’s those kind of prosecutions and the cooperative efforts that we can work with each other which are really where we should be focusing our efforts. If we simply say that, you know, it’s a constitutional issue and we can’t do anything about it, I think we’re not willing to throw up our hands like this. It is something we can do something about, and we are taking some steps to do some things about it.
Thank you very much.

QUESTION: Thank you.
MR. DUGUID: Thank you, Ambassador. The report, I believe, as we’ve been in here, has been posted on the State Department website, state.gov.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY JOHNSON: And I do have some CDs of it, if anybody wants to step up.
QUESTION: Thank you.
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Let the political elites that have allowed illegals to invade our country, pay for any help they want to give to Mexico. We have our own problems to deal with, etc.

I would not be surprised if Gov't will try to take away our guns by saying they must get guns out of the hands of illegals.