| Show Help for Mexico's narcotics counter-narcotics efforts The following ving editorial appeared in Wednesdays Wednesday's Washington Post The Washington Post Some ome expected that Felipe Calderon would be crippled as Mexican president by his close and controversial victory in last years year's elections But Calderon is proving more capable and more effective so far than many of his predecessors Responding to a near breakdown in the rule of law in parts of his country the president has dispatched troops to fight powerful drug gangs extradited traffickers to the United States in record numbers and increased spending to fight their networks by a quarter US U.S. officials say they are seeing some results Cocaine availability was reported down and prices up in 37 American cities in the first half of this year Judging that thai it has hasa a reliable partner in Mexico City the Bush administration has proposed spending million next year to help equip and train Mexican police and military forces to fight drug traffickers An additional 50 million in aid is proposed for Central American governments and million is planned for future spending on the Mexico program The first million is included in inthe inthe inthe the supplemental budget request Bush delivered to Congress last month Almost all of the funds would cover the cost of training police or supplying planes helicopters detection equipment for use by customs and communications gear Mexican officials say that none of the US U.S. aid would be in cash and that no new US U.S. personnel would be deployed in Mexico The package nevertheless will probably become a target for leftists in Mexico and the United States who reflexively oppose any military or security collaboration between the two countries The Mexican press is calling the aid program Plan Mexico after Plan Colombia the US U.S. aid program that has been a continual target for the left despite its clear success in helping the Colombian government beat back drug traffickers leftist guerrillas and wing right-wing insurgents Critics point out that Plan Colombia hasn't had a decisive impact on the flow of Colombian cocaine to the United States and it itcan itcan itcan can be safely predicted that the Mexican aid program also wont won't stop drugs from crossing the border in insignificant insignificant insignificant significant quantities What the Bush administration calls the Merida Initiative nevertheless could help Mexico strengthen the rule of law and limit the influence of murderous drug traffickers responsible for more than violent deaths in less than two years It could also improve Washington's relationship with a reformist Mexican president at a time when such populist demagogues as Venezuela's Hugo Ch vez are doing their best to undermine Latin Americas America's democrats and when Congress' Congress resistance to immigration reform is is' is corroding U.S.-Mexican U.S. relations Whether it itis itis itis is called the Merida Initiative or Plan Mexico the administrations administration's aid package deserves congressional support |
