MEXICO: United States announces plans to open a joint office with Mexican authorities to help Mexico combat rampant drug gang carnage

Record ID: 303567

  • Title: MEXICO: United States announces plans to open a joint office with Mexican authorities to help Mexico combat rampant drug gang carnage
  • Date: 17th December 2009
  • Summary: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (DECEMBER 16, 2009) (REUTERS) (CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY) EXTERIOR OF UNITED STATES TRADE CENTRE NEWS CONFERENCE ATTENDEES LEAVING ROOM NEWS CONFERENCE UNDERWAY (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) KEITH W. MINES, NARCOTICS AFFAIRS SECTION DIRECTOR OF THE U.S. EMBASSY IN MEXICO, SAYING: "We work with complete transparency, openness and as partners. In fact, starting in the spring, we'll have a bi-national office to implement Merida (Merida Initiative) where U.S. and Mexican officials will work on a daily basis in the same office, shoulder to shoulder on the implementation of Merida and other topics with regards to the law." MORE OF NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) U.S. AMBASSADOR TO MEXICO CARLOS PASCUAL, SAYING: "We have noticed that when we have started having an impact on drug traffickers, when we have cut down their capacity to export cocaine or after having reduced the amount of money returning to Mexico, this means they (drug gangs) are in a major competition. In a competition against each other, competing for control of border crossings into the United States. In a competition for control of regions and that is why they have expanded into other areas such as extortion, stealing and kidnapping." ATTENDEES GETTING UP AFTER NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 1st January 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA7YOX8XWM766KGW0J70WV8KUUQ
  • Story Text: The United States announced Wednesday (December 16) that it will will set up a joint anti-drugs office with Mexico to help Mexico in it's fight against drugtrafficking, international crime and terrorism.
    The joint effort will be financed by the Merida Initiative.
    The Merida Initiative is a three-year, $1.1 billion package pledged by the United States in 2007 to help Mexico combat rampant drug gang carnage.
    Keith W. Mines, Narcotics Affairs Section Director of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico, told a news conference in Mexico City, both governments wished to work as partners.
    "We work with complete transparency, openness and as partners. In fact, starting in the spring, we'll have a bi-national office to implement Merida (Merida Initiative) where U.S. and Mexican officials will work on a daily basis in the same office, shoulder to shoulder on the implementation of Merida and other topics with regards to the law," he said.
    U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual, said an impact on the assault on drug trafficking gangs was evident.
    "We have noticed that when we have started having an impact on drug traffickers, when we have cut down their capacity to export cocaine or after having reduced the amount of money returning to Mexico, this means they (drug gangs) are in a major competition. In a competition against each other, competing for control of border crossings into the United States. In a competition for control of regions and that is why they have expanded into other areas such as extortion, stealing and kidnapping," he said.
    The United States is the main market for Mexican drug gangs who dominate narcotics smuggling and whose turf war has provoked horrific violence including beheadings and brazen shootouts, worrying investors and Washington.
    In Mexico, the U.S. embassy handed over 5 Bell helicopters to the Mexican government on Tuesday (December 16) and plans to give three UH-60 helicopters and 4 fighter planes in 2010.
    More than 16,000 people have been killed in drug war violence in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon sent the army to fight the cartels in 2006.
    Mexico is lacking in state-of-the-art equipment and says a lack of helicopters with night vision allowed top drug baron Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, who heads the Sinaloa gang, to escape capture at his wedding to a local beauty queen in 2007.
    In July last year, the Mexican military, working with information from U.S. intelligence services, found nearly six tonnes of cocaine in a makeshift submarine seized this week off the Pacific coast.
    The 32-foot (10-metre)-long, green fiberglass craft was designed to travel just beneath the water, leaving almost no wake.
    The U.S. aid has been slow in coming and Mexican analysts say large chunks are being used up in salaries, bureaucracy and payments to U.S. security companies that are providing anti-drug gear.
    The U.S. government says it is committed to helping crush Mexican drug gangs.
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