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 News from Around the Americas | October 2007 
$1 Billion Mexico Funding Deal Nears Completion
 Gary Martin - San Antonio Express-News
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 |  | This is not the Mexicans presenting a wish list to the United States, it is a mixture of equipment and training and has an operational dimension to it.
- Armand Peschard-Sverdrup |  | |
Washington — U.S. and Mexican officials are completing negotiations on a major aid package that would send helicopters and law enforcement equipment south of the border to fight narcotics trafficking, officials said Friday.
The funding request, sought by Mexican President Felipe Calderon, could top $1 billion.
“They are an important neighbor of ours, and this is the first time they have asked for help,” said Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo. “This is one of the best things we can do: Help them so that we can help ourselves.”
Carlos Rico, the Mexican foreign minister for North American affairs, disclosed details of the aid package at a news conference in Mexico City earlier this week.
He said the cooperative agreement would total more than $1 billion over two years.
The amount is far more than a proposal introduced this year by Cuellar calling for $850 million over five years to provide Mexico with assistance to fight the drug cartels and tamp down escalating violence in border cites.
Cuellar said he expected the Bush administration to announce the aid package to Mexico soon and predicted Congress would pass the measure before the end of the year.
For U.S. border lawmakers, the aid package could not come too soon.
Four major drug cartels operating in Mexico have turned Mexican border cities into shooting galleries.
Since 2005, public officials and law enforcement agents have been gunned down in Nuevo Laredo, Agua Prieta, Mexico City and the state of Sonora, which borders Arizona.
The escalating violence prompted Cuellar, Rep. Sylvester Reyes, D-El Paso, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to call on Mexico to step up efforts to combat crime.
Calderon has responded.
In his first visit to the White House as the president of Mexico, Calderon told Bush and administration officials that fighting the cartels would be his highest priority.
Since taking office, Calderon has launched several measures to fight the cartels and drug traffickers, responsible for 90 percent of the cocaine shipped from South American through Mexico to the U.S, according to the State Department.
But officials on both sides of the border say more cooperation and assistance is needed.
The aid package would consist of helicopters, planes, communications equipment, wiretapping capabilities and training.
“This is not the Mexicans presenting a wish list to the United States, it is a mixture of equipment and training and has an operational dimension to it,” said Armand Peschard-Sverdrup, president of Peschard-Sverdrup & Associates, a consulting firm with expertise in U.S.-Mexico relations.
The agreement calls for enhanced cooperation between U.S. and Mexican law enforcement authorities to fight the cartels, but does not include direct military involvement, like the U.S. agreement with Colombia, Peschard-Sverdrup said.
In addition, the agreement calls for enhanced efforts by the United States to crack down on organized crime and drug trafficking north of the border, as well as weapons trafficking that supplies the Mexican cartels with heavy caliber armament.
“The Mexicans want a balanced approach,” Peschard-Sverdrup said.
Since 2006, the United States has spent $7 billion on anti-narcotics efforts in Latin America, with the lion's share of funding spent in Colombia and other countries in the Andes region, according to the Government Accountability Office.
During that time, the amount of marijuana and heroin produced by Mexico for consumption in American cities has grown, according to the GAO.
The aid package could be attached to a supplemental spending bill Congress is expected to pass to fund the Iraqi war, or slipped into an annual spending bill during a House-Senate conference report, Cuellar said.
Although congressional opposition to aid is expected, lawmakers and experts say it has a good chance of passage before the House and Senate complete legislative business this year.
“The genesis of this package originated in Congress,” Peschard-Sverdrup said. “My sense is that the Democrats are going to want to make sure that this reflects their views and their interests.”
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