Pubdate: Mon, 12 Jan 2009 Source: Dallas Morning News (TX) Copyright: 2009 The Dallas Morning News, Inc. Contact: http://www.dallasnews.com/cgi-bin/lettertoed.cgi Website: http://www.dallasnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117 Author: Andrew Selee Note: Andrew Selee is director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center and an adjunct professor of government at Johns Hopkins University. Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Obama Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Felipe+Calderon Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Mexico OBAMA'S FIRST MEETING WITH CALDERON President-elect Barack Obama is set to meet with Mexican President Felipe Calderon today in what will be his first visit with a foreign leader since the election. This encounter will give Obama his first opportunity to focus significant attention on Latin America, and whatever messages the president-elect chooses to send will be taken quite seriously throughout the hemisphere. More than new proposals, leaders and citizens there will be looking for a new tone, a sense that the Obama administration will be willing to listen to their concerns and work in partnership with Latin American countries. The issue of drug-trafficking organizations and the threat they pose to both countries is likely to be front and center of the discussion between Obama and Calderon. More 5,000 people have lost their lives in Mexico this year in drug-related murders, and the cartels have increasingly corrupted government agencies, bought off politicians and silenced the press. The violence is also threatening to spill over to the U.S. While Mexico has become a producer and trans-shipment point for narcotics, the U.S. is the world's largest consumer market for them and sends $15 billion to $25 billion from drug sales back to the cartels each year in illegal cash and weapons. The Obama administration has an opportunity to take a new, comprehensive approach to drug trafficking that could go a long way toward undermining cartels and reducing violence. The first step would be to ramp up efforts to stop the flow of illegal cash and weapons to Mexico and to increase federal investments in programs that reduce consumption. At the same time, the new administration should continue to deepen law enforcement cooperation and provide help for Mexico's efforts to reform the police and courts. The other major agenda item is sure to be the economy. Ironically, the last time the two countries had to face a major crisis, it was Mexico's peso crisis in 1994 that was threatening to spill over. Today it is America's credit crisis that is threatening to engulf the Mexican economy and many others farther south. There is little the two countries can do to prevent this, but maintaining close consultation on economic policy is a good start. There is also an unusual opportunity here. Both countries are planning major stimulus packages that include infrastructure investment. There is a chance to use some of those funds on both sides of the border to improve the infrastructure of border communities, including border crossing stations and roads. Finally, there are any number of issues for the future that the two leaders may want to start thinking about. These include opportunities to increase educational exchange, especially in science and technology,; develop alternative energy technologies together and look at creative options for providing lower-cost treatment to Medicare patients in certified hospitals in Mexico. And, of course, there is always the difficult issue of immigration, where the U.S. has an urgent need to bring its outmoded immigration system up to date, while Mexico has much to do to provide opportunities for Mexicans to stay at home. None of these issues will be resolved in the first meeting, but perhaps this encounter will set the tone for a more creative and fluid dialogue between the two countries -- and with other countries in Latin America as well. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake