Hillary Clinton To Visit Mexico To Support Drug Crackdown

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will travel to Mexico this month to show support for that country's crackdown on drug cartels that is blamed for a surge in violence and fears of a large-scale spillover into the United States.

The State Department said Friday that Clinton, on her third trip abroad as the top U.S. diplomat, will visit Mexico City and Monterrey on March 25-26 to underscore the Obama administration's commitment to helping Mexican authorities deal with the deteriorating situation, which has prompted deep concern in Washington and Southwestern states.

Clinton's agenda will be broad, including the global financial crisis, climate change and trade, but will likely be dominated by discussions on the Merida Initiative, a Bush administration project to counter narcotics trafficking and crime in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America that Obama has said he wants to revamp.

"We will be discussing Merida," deputy State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said. "It's not a U.S. decision alone on how we proceed. This is a partnership with Mexico. The programs, the projects, the training that occur under Merida aren't static. They can be adapted to the needs that both partners see on the ground."

Congress has allocated $300 million for the Merida Initiative this year, $150 million less than had been requested, but Duguid said the amount was "ample" and "we will move forward on that basis."

The escalating violence _ which has killed thousands, mostly south of the border _ has set off alarm bells in the U.S. and triggered a State Department travel alert last month that compared recent confrontations between Mexican authorities and the cartels to "small-unit combat."

Mexican officials say the violence killed 6,290 people last year and more than 1,000 in the first eight weeks of 2009.

Despite the warning, timed to coincide with Spring Break when thousands of American students head to Mexican beaches and resorts, U.S. officials have stressed that the violence is "localized" and a reaction to the strong steps being taken by the government of President Felipe Calderon against the cartels.

Clinton's visit to Monterrey, an industrial city near the Texas border, is in part intended to signal that the Obama administration does not believe Mexico is unsafe. In October and November, unidentified gunmen fired shots outside the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey in three incidents, including one in which a grenade was thrown but failed to explode.

Still, U.S. officials regard the cartels as the biggest organized crime threat facing the United States and the spiraling violence has worried lawmakers and authorities in border states and stirred calls from some to send American troops to the border.

Obama said this week he had no desire to "militarize" the border, but the Department of Homeland Security has outlined plans to protect the border that include, as a last resort, deploying military personnel and equipment to the region if other agencies are overwhelmed.

In its annual survey of global counter-narcotics efforts, the State Department in February painted a grim picture of the situation in Mexico, where it said Calderon was taking "courageous" and "unprecedented" steps to combat the drug trade but was hindered by rampant corruption.

Mexico is the main transit point for cocaine entering the U.S. and a source for much of the heroin, marijuana and methamphetine consumed in America, the department said, adding that there had been an increase in contract killings and kidnappings on U.S. soil carried out by Mexican drug cartels, sometimes using weapons that were purchased or stolen in America.

It also said that firearms obtained in the U.S. account for an estimated 95 percent of the country's drug-related killings.

Comments

[partyofone]

Billionaire, ruthless drug lords of Mexico beware. Mrs. Bill Clinton, tourist in chief , is on her way. Count your last days Mexican mafia. Annie Oakley takes no prisoners.

[leonel]

The report on Mexico having "rampant corruption" that makes it difficult for government to fight drug trade can be corrected, or improved, by stating that Mexico has "rampant organized drug crime and rampant unemployment problems" and "endemic corruption." This gets to the problem with Mexico's "corruption." It is a stereotype but somewhat accurate to say that Mexicans are easy-going and too patient. This can explain how their tradition of being too casual in dealing with the government has finally gotten out of control in these problem areas. For example, Mexicans found it easy telling police, "I don't want to bother, take this $10 and pay the traffic ticket for me." Doesn't apply to the majority of Mexicans but it can also apply to some of the behavior of police and government employees. As with any government that has open elections, corruption charges are always being addressed and can never get completely out of control. The closing of the northern border has stopped immigration as the traditional way of avoiding very high unemployment. Illegal drug selling to Americans adds billions of dollars annually and unlimited firearms and has now pushed corruption and violence totally over the top. A very hot mixture. Muy caliente! Mexicans know now their easy-going ways have landed them in a war. They need a bigger army now.

[linlu]

For a good chunk of my life, I believed that a cousin - who was a police officer in Mexico, was killed on the orders of a local drug boss. It wasn't true as I later learned, but his death followed the death of another cousin - also a police officer in Mexico. That cousin died from drowning in a local canal, and he was a strong swimmer. So for me to hear about what is going on, and what I have heard for a long time is not surprising, unfortunately. I hope and pray that the fatalism that allowed this to grow to such a problem does not come roaring back in the battle against these ruthless drug lords.

I view Mexico as a prime example of what happens when people accept the status quo and stop fighting for change.