Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | S | SourceMex Economic News & Analysis on Mexico

U.S., MEXICAN GOVERNMENTS PREPARING TO IMPLEMENT ANTI-DRUG PROGRAM SIMILAR TO PLAN COLOMBIA.

Article Excerpt
The administrations of Mexican President Felipe Calderon and US counterpart George W. Bush have reached agreement on a comprehensive program to combat drug trafficking in Mexico. The program, which will be known as the Joint Strategy to Combat Organized Crime, includes the allocation of US$1 billion to US$1.4 billion in aid to Mexico for use in drug interdiction activities over a two-year period. Critics on both sides of the border immediately attacked the proposal, which they said is very similar to Plan Colombia, which the US has employed in South America over the past seven years.

The US government has not officially announced the new program, which some critics have dubbed "Plan Mexico" because of its similarity to Plan Colombia, which was launched in 2000 as part of a US effort to eradicate coca production and fight Marxist rebels in the South American country. Under the Colombia aid package, the US has allocated US$600 million to US$700 million a year.

Plan Colombia has come under strong criticism because of its high cost and relative ineffectiveness and the damage it has caused to local communities (see NotiSur, 2003-07-25, 2005-08-26 and 2007-03-09).

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) was expected to make an official announcement of the Mexico aid program at the end of October, said Mexico's Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora.

Still, details of the program were already widely known, with Carlos Rico Ferrat, Mexico's deputy foreign relations secretary for North American affairs, discussing the proposal during a speech at the Colegio de Mexico (Colmex) in Mexico City on Oct. 4. Rico Ferrat has been working on the proposal with ONDCP director John Walters. According to Rico Ferrat, the US government has proposed to initially fund the program for two years. "We don't see any complications that would prevent expansion of the program in ensuing years," Rico said.

Even though details have yet to be released, some information was leaked to news outlets. According to press reports, the plan would place a strong emphasis on the areas of gathering and sharing intelligence, interdiction at ports of entry, aerial monitoring and intervention, investigation and legal processing...

View this article FREE - Now for a Limited Time, try Goliath Business News
Free for 3 Days!