Pubdate: Tue, 23 Oct 2007
Source: Charlotte Observer (NC)
Copyright: 2007 The Charlotte Observer
Contact:  http://www.charlotte.com/observer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/78
Author: Pablo Bachelet, McClatchy Newspapers

Congress Cautious

WHITE HOUSE UNVEILS $1.4 BILLION PROGRAM TO TACKLE TRAFFICKING

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration Monday announced a $1.4 
billion, multiyear initiative to help Mexico defeat powerful drug 
cartels whose turf wars have left several thousand dead and led 
President Felipe Calderon to deploy his military. Dubbed the Merida 
Initiative for the Mexican city where President Bush and Calderon 
fleshed out the plan at a March meeting, the program also is designed 
to redefine the way the two neighbors cooperate on security issues, 
U.S. officials said.

The White House said it wants Congress to immediately allocate $500 
million for Mexico and $50 million for Central America. The request 
was tucked into a $46 billion Iraq-Afghanistan supplemental spending 
bill unveiled Monday. Reaction in Congress was guarded, with members 
saying they were disposed to help Mexico but needed more information 
before committing to the initiative. The $500 million would be the 
initial installment of a two-or three-year program, officials said, 
and would be in addition to a large but unknown sum provided by Mexico.

Mexico would get training, surveillance aircraft, Bell 412 
helicopters to ferry Mexican security personnel, non-intrusive ion 
scanners to detect drugs, canine units and more secure communications 
technologies, among other materials. "The United States will do all 
it can to support Mexico's efforts to break the power and impunity of 
drug organizations," the White House said in a statement. Calderon 
has made tackling drug-fueled violence a priority, deploying troops 
to the struggle and continuing his predecessor's efforts to purge 
police forces of corrupt officers. Last year, more than 2,000 people 
died in drug-fueled violence.

The Bush administration estimates that 90 percent of the cocaine that 
hits U.S. streets enters through Mexico. Mexicans have long 
complained that U.S. drug consumption finances much of the violence 
and corruption, and that traffickers obtain guns from the United States.

The initiative adds a new dimension to the complex relationship 
between Mexico and the United States, which share a 2,000-mile border 
that's one of the busiest in the world. Nearly $1 billion worth of 
merchandise moves across the border each way every day, in addition 
to hundreds of thousands of legal and illegal crossings.

U.S. officials declined to give details of the program or how they'll 
ensure that intelligence information doesn't end up in the hands of 
corrupt Mexican officials, who could pass it to the cartels. But they 
did say that their Mexican counterparts will be vetted before receiving aid.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman