Center for International Policy

As Printed in

October 6, 2007 Pg. 18

In Mexico, Doubts On Anti-Drug Proposal

Some in U.S. Also Express Hesitancy

By Manuel Roig-Franzia, Washington Post Foreign Service

MEXICO CITY, Oct. 5 -- Even before its unveiling, a massive proposed U.S. aid package to help Mexico battle drug trafficking is spawning some unease, grumbles and words of caution on both sides of the border.

In Mexico, opponents of President Felipe Calderon, whose administration sought the aid deal, are complaining about the possibility of ceding too much control of internal affairs to the United States. The Mexico City newspaper El Universal fretted in an editorial published Friday that technical assistance believed to be part of the plan could "disguise" the arrival in Mexico of "private providers of war technology, such as Blackwater," the U.S. firm embroiled in controversies about alleged excessive use of force in Iraq.

"It would be bad to open the door to our national territory to mercenaries," the paper said.

In the United States, Amnesty International urged lawmakers from both countries to meet before the plan is finalized to ensure that the deal respects human rights, especially because of alleged rights abuses by Mexican military personnel dispatched by Calderon to fight drug cartels.

Laura Carlsen, director of Latin America policies for the Center for International Policy, a Washington-based nonprofit, criticized the plan, saying it "is based on a failed model that emphasizes enforcement and military presence."

"There have been no public statements that indicate an emphasis on the growing problem of Mexican drug consumption or rehabilitation [or] the crisis in the Mexican countryside that has pushed peasant farmers to convert from food crops to drug crops," Carlsen, who is based in Mexico City, said in an interview.

Few details of the aid package have been disclosed. On Thursday, Carlos Rico, Mexico's top diplomat for North America, said the Bush administration has proposed $1 billion in aid over two years. Mexico's Foreign Ministry has said no U.S. troops or agents would be allowed to operate on Mexican soil. U.S. congressional sources have said the plan, which must be passed by both houses of Congress, would include money for training and equipment.

Rico and John P. Walters, head of the White House drug policy office, said this week that an announcement would be made within days.

The package already appears to have a cadre of strong backers in the U.S. Congress, especially in the delegations that represent the border states, such as Texas. But it has yet to get a full airing before lawmakers preoccupied by the challenges of funding the war in Iraq.

In Mexico, legislators from Calderon's National Action Party, or PAN, firmly support the plan.

"It's clear that this is the right thing for Mexico," Pilar Ortegan, a PAN representative in the lower house of Mexico's Congress, said in an interview.

But the PAN controls only a third of Mexico's Congress, and opposition lawmakers are bristling that Mexican lawmakers have not been involved in developing the program and appear to have no role in its implementation.

"Cooperation is necessary, but Plan Mexico -- or the accord -- should pass through the Mexican Senate," Manuel Camacho Solis, a former Mexico City mayor and top adviser to Calderon's election opponent, Andris Manuel Lopez Obrador, said in an interview. "If this is overseen by the U.S. Congress without the involvement of the Mexican Congress, the program will not reflect the wishes of the Mexican public."

Andres Lozano Lozano, a congressional representative of Lopez Obrador's Democratic Revolutionary Party, said in an interview that the program could be a way for the United States "to intervene in our affairs."

"Nothing comes for free," Lozano Lozano said. "I have the impression that there may be other intentions at the base of this."