Drug Czar Asking For Federal Funding To Help Fight Mexican Drug Cartels

JUAREZ, Mexico – The White House Drug Czar is urging congress to take action now to help Mexico’s president fight powerful drug cartels. While lawmakers consider aid that includes training and equipment, the bloodshed worsens, and and it threatens to spill across the border.

U.S. President Bush has usedthe wave of violence in Mexico to push for Congressional approval of the first US$500 million installment of the multiyear aid proposal.

But the U.S. Senate approved only US$450 million for the plan, and the House US$461.5 million. The two chambers must agree on a final version before sending it back to Bush for approval.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson urged U.S. lawmakers to resolve their differences overthe aid package to help Mexico fight drugs, saying it would be “disastrous” for security on both sides of the border if the Merida Initiative fell through.

Richardson said Mexican President Felipe Calderon deserved support in his aggressive fight against drug cartels, including deploying 25,000 troops to hotspots across the country. He said Mexico was in critical need of more resources for that fight, noting a string of attacks against police that have left several top commanders dead.

“It is important that the Senate and House resolve their differences because it would be disastrous if Plan Merida went down the tube,” Richardson said in an interview with The Associated Press.

“What is needed mostly is resources, equipment and personnel, and it would be disastrous for the border states if the commitment to Plan Merida were diminished,” he said.

The Merida Initiative would provide helicopters, planes, computer systems and police dogs. But the Congressional versions would impose several conditions on the aid, including guarantees of civilian investigations into human rights abuses by the Mexican military.

Calderon has called the conditions an intrusion on Mexican sovereignty, and Attorney General Eduardo Medina said last week Mexico would wait until the plan is approved before deciding whether to accept the aid.

Richardson, who was in Mexico for a meeting between Calderon and governors from both sides of the border, said he was confident that Congress was “within striking distance of a potential deal that is also acceptable to Mexico.”

The governors met with Calderon to push for federal help in crime-fighting and border security. They made a similar appeal to Bush in February.

Despite Calderon’s crackdown, violence has made an unprecedented surge in Mexico. Cartels have responded with increasingly bold attacks against police and other security officials. Homicides related to organized crime have jumped 47 percent so far this year: 1,378 deaths compared with 940 in the same period last year.

Calderon said the root of the problem was demand for drugs in the U.S. and called for more to be done about it.

Despite Mexico’s relentless violence, the U.S. governors offered staunch support for Calderon.

“Calderon is a great leader,” said California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. “We would like to congratulate him for the courage that he has to stand up against the drug lords and to fight them.”

Thousands of troops and federal police were supposed to restore order in areas ravaged by drug violence, including hotspots where warring drug cartels clash over turf.

“There are no more vicious people in the world, terrorists or criminals than these individuals who mutilate bodies and kill men, women and children, family members,” Drug Czar John Walters said.

The death toll continues to climb in Mexico. So far, nearly 5,000 people, including 500 police officers and soldiers, have been killed in just the last year and a half.

Most recently, drug traffickers clashed with federal police killing 7 officers in one day in the state of Sinaloaa, a drug cartel stronghold.

Mexico’s government now faces multiple paramilitary groups and the drug traffickers target more than those on the frontline.

“We regarded the assasination of the head of the national police as the beginning of the tipping point,” said George Friendman of Stratfor Global Security.

Last month the federal police chief Edgar Millan was ambushed as he arrived home in Mexico City. Investigators said the trigger man had inside information. Experts at the global security firm Stratfor warn this backlash from the drug cartels poses a threat to Mexico’s stability.

“The nature of a failed state is when either the officials are so terrified they can’t do anything. They have been bribed by huge amount of money not to do anything. or even if they chose to do something they simply didn’t have the military force. It’s happening now at the local level in several border states,” Friendman said.

In May, 2nd in command of the city police was killed in a hail of bullets. The police chief went into hiding and days later resigned. His replacement is a retired military officer charged with rebuilding the police force. More than 100 officers have quit since the beginning of the year, at least two crossed the border seeking asylum in Texas.

Cop killing drug cartel hit squads in Juarez leave regular warnings at crime scenes, threatening dirty cops who betry them to work for rival drug gangs.

To the American public this might seem like a crime problem, but in Mexico people also see it as a consumer issue. American drug users put tens of billions of dollars in the hands of drug traffickers. All that cash is helping fund paramilitary forces, commando-style attacks, and mob-style killings that are terrorizing places like Juarez.

“We shouldn’t fool ourselves. Their goal is not only to destroy rule of law in Mexico. If you live along the border you should know their goal is to destroy rule of law in United States. This is a common enemy. It’s our chance to have a common fight and be successful,” Walters said.

According to Walters, it’s critical the U.S. congress approve a pending aid package worth a billion dollars in training and equipment to help Mexico fight the powerful drug cartels. Mexico’s federal government faced policing entire regions as local law enforcement disintegrates.

“No tiene cuando acavar,” 85-year-old Juarez resident, Jesus Robles Villalpandosaid.

Border residents caught in the crossfire fear more bloodshed. The temporary mission to restore law and order, now looks like a prolonged fight, that won’t stop at the border. The U.S. State Department has issued several travel alerts for Americans crossing the border into Mexico. To view the latest information on the alerts, click here.