 |
|
|
 Business News | October 2007 
US to Launch $1BN ‘Plan Mexico’
 Adam Thomson - Financial Times
go to original
 |  | They talk about Plan Colombia. Here, we have the operational capacity to do it ourselves.
- Carlos Rico |  | |
The US intends to supply Mexico with a $1bn aid package to help combat an increasingly costly and violent war against drugs, according to a top Mexican diplomat.
The agreement, which some experts have dubbed ”Plan Mexico” after the controversial multi-billion-dollar anti-narcotics package the US established with Colombia in 2000, would be spread out over two years and include the supply of intelligence, training and equipment such as helicopters and boats.
However, Carlos Rico, Mexico’s undersecretary for North American affairs, said the plan would not resemble the aid package with Colombia. In particular, he said, no US troops would be allowed to operate on Mexican soil, thus sidestepping the particularly sensitive issue of Mexican sovereignty.
”They talk about Plan Colombia,” Mr Rico said. ”Here, we have the operational capacity to do it ourselves.”
Mr Rico’s comments confirm rumours that have been circling for several months. An official joint announcement is expected in the coming days.
The programme, which will be called the Joint Strategy to Fight Organised Crime and which requires approval by Congress before it can be rolled out next year, will probably be seen as a significant victory for Felipe Calderón, Mexico’s centre-right president.
Since coming to power in December, Mr Calderón has made anti-narcotics policy a priority, and has sent thousands of troops from to help fight drugs and organised crime.
So far, that strategy appears to have achieved mixed results. Last week, Mexico’s army seized 10 tonnes of cocaine in the northern state of Tamaulipas in the biggest drugs haul in the country’s history.
However, other operations have been less easy to quantify, experts say, and some argue that the military presence has often been ineffective.
Arguing that drug gangs have taken control of large swathes of the country and that organised crime has infiltrated institutions, Mexico’s head of state has become increasingly vociferous on the need for US assistance.
”The truth is that the US is jointly responsible for what is happening to us,” he told the Financial Times in an interview this year. ”In that joint responsibility, the US has a lot of work to do.”
Last week, Mr Rico said the agreement between the two countries would also involve the US cracking down on the illegal flow across its southern border of arms and chemicals used in the production of synthetic drugs. It would also do more to combat drugs consumption at home.
In return, Mexico would step up operations aimed at breaking money-laundering activities as well as against shipments of narcotics north towards the US. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us