| | |  News Around the Republic of Mexico 
Mexico to Get Helicopters in October
 Arshad Mohammed - Reuters
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May 07, 2010
 |  | The three Black Hawks for the Mexican police are off the production line, with unique and first-time modifications specifically for Mexican use.
- Charles Luoma-Overstreet |  | | |
The United States will deliver to Mexico in October three Black Hawk helicopters the Mexican police badly needs to fight drug cartels, a U.S. official said on Thursday.
The long-delayed delivery is part of a $1.4 billion package of assistance pledged by the U.S. government in 2007 to help its southern neighbor crush rampant drug gang violence.
Only a fraction of the aid package, that includes equipment and training under the three-year Merida Initiative, has been delivered so far. Five Bell helicopters were given to the Mexican army in December, but this would be the first delivery of Black Hawks under the Merida Initiative, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City said.
"The three Black Hawks for the Mexican police are off the production line, with unique and first-time modifications specifically for Mexican use," Charles Luoma-Overstreet, State Department spokesman for Western Hemisphere affairs, told Reuters in a Latin American Investment Summit.
"We expect to deliver them in October," he said.
Luoma-Overstreet said other Black Hawks on order for the Mexican Navy will be delivered "hopefully sometime next year."
The U.S. official said the helicopters were modified at the request of the Mexican police.
(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
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