Pubdate: Thu, 23 Oct 2008
Source: New York Times (NY)
Page: A8
Copyright: 2008 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Marc Lacey
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/area/Mexico (Mexico)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Felipe+Calderon

RICE VISITS MEXICO FOR A MEETING ABOUT ITS DRUG WAR

MEXICO CITY -- The Bush administration signaled its alarm about 
Mexico's vicious drug war by sending the American secretary of state 
on Wednesday to a two-day meeting on improving cross-border 
cooperation in the battle against the country's powerful drug cartels.

The Bush administration increasingly sees the violent clashes in 
Mexico as a threat to American security, and the lawlessness was high 
on the agenda when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived on 
Wednesday in Puerto Vallarta for meetings with her local counterpart, 
Patricia Espinosa. The Mexicans had sought the high-level visit to 
press for greater coordination with the United States in their fight 
against the heavily armed cartels, but the world economic crisis was 
also discussed.

Ms. Rice's arrival was the latest in a series of visits this month 
alone by top-level administration officials. Attorney General Michael 
B. Mukasey met with his counterpart in Mexico City several weeks 
back. Last week, John P. Walters, the director of the White House 
Office of National Drug Control Policy, made the rounds of the Mexican capital.

The visits are indications of the Bush administration's desire to 
lend a hand to President Felipe Calderon's government, which has made 
fighting the traffickers the centerpiece of its agenda but has 
nonetheless seen security around the country deteriorate.

"There is a great deal of stress and strain being placed on the 
Calderon administration in Mexico, and we want to show our support," 
said a State Department official who was not authorized to speak 
publicly on the matter.

On Wednesday, Mexican authorities were touting the arrest of Jesus 
Zambada Garcia, a high-level trafficker from the powerful Sinaloa 
Cartel, after a shootout with the police in Mexico City.

The Mexican government's fight against traffickers comes with 
considerable risk, because cartel leaders have singled out for 
assassination numerous law enforcement officials engaged in the 
antidrug campaign. Mr. Calderon has said that he has received 
numerous threats since he started his antidrug offensive upon taking 
office nearly two years ago.

Even though the White House successfully pushed through Congress $400 
million in aid for Mexico's antidrug effort, Mr. Calderon has 
complained of the need for even more focused attention from the 
United States. Not only is America the world's largest market for 
illegal narcotics, but it also provides much of the weaponry used by 
Mexican cartels.

The violence has directly affected American government facilities. 
The American Consulate in Monterrey was attacked this month by a 
gunman who fired several shots at the building and another man who 
lofted a grenade, which did not detonate. Several days later, after a 
visit to the building by the American ambassador to Mexico, Antonio 
O. Garza, gunshots rang out nearby and the consulate was closed for the day.

In Ciudad Juarez, a border city that has experienced more than 1,000 
killings this year as part of a raging battle among traffickers, 
American officials recently reported a series of muggings near the 
consulate there. Visa applicants visiting the building have been 
warned not to use cash.

The American Embassy in Mexico City, meanwhile, upgraded its travel 
alert in recent days for Americans visiting Mexico, warning that drug 
cartels posed a significant danger, especially along the border. 
"Firefights have taken place in many towns and cities across Mexico 
but particularly in northern Mexico, including Tijuana, Chihuahua 
City and Ciudad Juarez," the alert said. "The situation in northern 
Mexico remains fluid; the location and timing of future armed 
engagements cannot be predicted."

During his visit to Mexico last week, Mr. Walters heaped praise on 
Mr. Calderon for his "courageous leadership" in taking on the 
cartels. But he also expressed concern about the spillover effects of 
the drug war on the United States.

"Some of these groups not only engage in crime and violence in 
Mexico, but they come across, kidnap, murder, carry out 
assassinations," he told reporters, noting that the intensity of the 
violence was still much higher south of the border than north of it.

"Our goal is to reduce the period of suffering as rapidly as possible 
by bringing these people to justice," he said. "That's what this is 
all about on both sides of the border."

Mr. Walters, a vehement opponent of drug legalization, backed a 
proposal by Mr. Calderon not to prosecute people caught carrying 
relatively small amounts of illegal narcotics, including cocaine and 
heroin. Under Mr. Calderon's plan, addicts would be treated 
differently from traffickers and would avoid jail if they agreed to 
undergo treatment, not unlike similar programs in some parts of the 
United States. "I don't think that's legalization," Mr. Walters said.

Another proposal, put forward recently by a Mexico City lawmaker 
belonging to an opposition party, would legalize the carrying of 
small amounts of marijuana. That proposal has been roundly criticized 
by Mexico's political establishment and is not expected to advance.
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