WORLD : Mexico Vows to Battle Drug Traffic
Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari told a joint meeting of Congress today that his nation intends “to eradicate drug trafficking at its very roots.”
But Salinas, who is on a state visit to the United States, warned that “at the world level, we are losing.” He said that is unacceptable and called for greater cooperation between governments to turn the tide.
While vowing an all-out effort to curb drug trafficking, Salinas firmly ruled out joint U.S.-Mexican military operations to fight the traffickers.
“The responsibility for the fight in our country is exclusively ours,” he said. “There will be no joint military operations on our soil.”
Salinas, who met on Tuesday with President Bush, said there is now greater acceptance in the United States regarding the importance of greater efforts to reduce the demand for drugs.
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