U.S., Mexican lawmakers struggle to save Merida anti-drug crime plan

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Drug-related killings have soared in Mexico recently, but U.S. and Mexican legislators are still at odds over how to cooperate to stop the violence and the free flow of arms and narcotics across the border.

‘U.S. lawmakers will review the language of an anti-drug plan that Mexican officials contend infringes on their nation’s sovereignty by conditioning aid to performance on human rights, a senior U.S. senator said Sunday.’ Read about it here.

‘Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said that a visiting delegation of U.S. lawmakers will take concerns expressed to them by Mexican legislators this weekend back to the U.S. Congress, which has been considering the aid plan, known as the Merida Initiative.’

‘The plan, proposed in October by U.S. President George Bush, would give Mexico and other Latin American countries US$1.4 billion over several years to fight drug trafficking.’

‘But Mexican lawmakers object to several conditions, including performance evaluations, reviews of how the money was spent and guarantees that civilian investigators would be allowed to look into allegations of abuse by Mexico’s military.’

‘ ‘We heard from everyone here the common message that this language has got to be changed,’ said Dodd, one of 11 U.S. legislators attending a two-day meeting with their Mexican counterparts in Monterrey.’

Ruth Zavaleta, speaker of Mexico’s lower house of congress, said the chamber would refuse any conditions on U.S. aid and welcomed Dodd’s promise to review the plan.

‘ ‘There is a commitment to take our concerns and discuss them in the U.S. Congress, and we hope that they can correct (the plan) with the demands we are making,’ ‘ Zavaleta said.

-- Reed Johnson in Mexico City