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AFP - Chief US diplomat Hillary Clinton leads a senior delegation to Mexico Tuesday, barely a week after US consulate-linked killings galvanized attention on the country's surging drug violence.

The meeting was to assess the Merida Initiative, a 1.6-billion-dollar program of aid to fight organized crime, mainly in Mexico but also in Central America, which is due to expire in 2011.

Mexico has been gripped in drug-related bloodshed since President Felipe Calderon launched a military clampdown on the country's powerful drug gangs after taking office in December 2006.

More than 15,000 people have since died in suspected drug attacks, particularly near the US border, which increasingly are involving innocent bystanders.

On the eve of the talks, Calderon and US President Barack Obama discussed by telephone a "mutual desire to work together for the benefit of the safety and security of citizens on both sides of our shared border," US National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer said in a statement.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano were due to arrive mid-morning with Clinton for the talks with top Mexican officials.

In the latest violence, suspected drug gang members engaged in shootouts with police around the northern city of Monterrey and hijacked cars to set up scores of roadblocks last week. Two students died in the crossfire of one shootout.

Three killings linked to the US consulate in the northern city of Ciudad Juarez on March 13 brought renewed US attention to the problem.

US law enforcement agents across the border in El Paso, Texas last week rounded up members of the Barrio Azteca gang -- hitmen for the Juarez drug gang -- who are suspected in the killings of a US consulate employee, her husband and the husband of another staff member.

Ciudad Juarez, Mexico's most violent city, has been a testing ground for Calderon's crackdown, which includes the deployment of some 50,000 troops nationwide.

But protests by residents frustrated with a spiralling death toll and growing crime greeted Calderon when he visited the city last week.

As the violence continues, around the Pacific beach resort of Acapulco as well as the border areas, Calderon's replacement of notoriously corrupt police officers with soldiers to fight drug traffickers is under increasing scrutiny.

The army also has drawn fire for its sometimes brutal treatment of suspects.

Tuesday's meeting was expected to focus on long-term strategies for security cooperation.

The Obama administration was the first last year to admit joint US responsibility for Mexico's drug violence, recognizing the role of US drug appetites and the flow of weapons from north to south.

During his telephone call with Calderon, Obama underlined a "sustained commitment to support Mexico's efforts," Hammer said.

Analysts have hailed improved cooperation in recent months, including scores of extraditions of cartel leaders from Mexico to the United States, and a mass arrest of Mexican drug gang members north of the border last year.

But critics on both sides say the United States could do more, particularly in sharing intelligence with Mexico.

Only a fraction of the 1.3 billion dollars earmarked for Mexico under the Merida Initiative has been delivered so far.


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Here's the top official she should be holding hands with when she walks off the plane:

http://politicsoffthegrid.files.word...raeus_2007.jpg

I think she would be better off just cutting a "hands off" deal with the cartels.

And Adm. Mike Mullen is chopped liver?

Would appear they are a bit serious...

"Analysts have hailed improved cooperation in recent months, including scores of extraditions of cartel leaders from Mexico to the United States, and a mass arrest of Mexican drug gang members north of the border last year."


Clinton promises more US help in Mexico drug war - Yahoo! News

Originally Posted by Bajahowodd

And Adm. Mike Mullen is chopped liver?

No, but I was just saying if you like a sure bet...