Clinton promises more US help in Mexico drug war

A senior US delegation led by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday pledged to boost joint efforts to tackle surging violence by Mexico’s powerful drug cartels.

“There is no question that they are fighting against both of our governments,” Clinton said in Mexico City, barely a week after three US consulate-linked killings in the violent border city of Ciudad Juarez.

Three suspected drug deaths were reported in Ciudad Juarez as top Mexican officials huddled with US envoys including Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

“We are working in our two governments, together, to solve the problem posed by the criminal cartels that stalk the streets of your cities and ours,” Clinton later told a news conference.

Mexico has been gripped in drug-related bloodshed since President Felipe Calderon launched a military clampdown on the country’s powerful drug gangs after taking office in December 2006.

More than 15,000 people have since died in suspected drug attacks, particularly near the US border, which increasingly claim the lives of innocent bystanders.

The Obama administration was the first last year to admit the United States was also to blame for Mexico’s drug violence, recognizing the role of US drug appetites and the flow of weapons from north to south.

Clinton reiterated the US role and insisted that the United States was “very aggressively enforcing the laws against illegal guns.”

The meetings focused on the Merida Initiative, a 1.6-billion-dollar program of aid to fight organized crime mainly in Mexico but also in Central America that is due to expire in 2011.

The Obama administration has asked Congress for a further 410 million dollars for the plan in 2011, including 310 million dollars for Mexico.

But only a fraction of the overall 1.3 billion dollars earmarked for Mexico, including police training and helicopters, has been delivered so far.

Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa said that the two nations had agreed to overcome “bottlenecks” that had delayed deliveries of equipment required rapidly by Mexico.

AFP