Pubdate: Fri, 26 Oct 2007
Source: USA Today (US)
Page: 2A
Copyright: 2007 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Contact:  http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/index.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author: Chris Hawley, USA TODAY
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/area/Mexico (Mexico)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Felipe+Calderon
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

ANTI-DRUG AID PACKAGE WOULD GIVE MEXICO AIR-POWER BOOST

MEXICO CITY -- Nearly half of a new $500 million U.S. aid package for 
Mexico would be used to purchase surveillance planes and helicopters 
so that Mexican police can track drug traffickers who are often 
better armed and operating faster vehicles than they are.

The aircraft would help the Mexican government build on its recent 
success in cracking down on drug cartels, Thomas Shannon, the State 
Department's top diplomat for Latin America, said Thursday in a 
telephone interview.

The $500 million, which has not yet been approved by Congress, is the 
first phase of a $1.4 billion anti-drug package that would be 
distributed in the next three years. The surveillance aircraft would 
help Mexican agents chase down the planes and speedboats that carry 
cocaine from South America to remote areas of Mexico, where it is 
then taken to the U.S. border.

The U.S. government has credited Mexican President Felipe Calderon's 
aggressive anti-drug tactics with a reduction in cocaine supply in 
several U.S. cities. However, the crash last month of a 
U.S.-registered business jet carrying 3.2 tons of cocaine in Mexico's 
Yucatan Peninsula shows drug planes are still slipping into Mexico.

About $208 million of the first wave of money would go toward eight 
Bell 412 transport helicopters and two CASA CN-235 surveillance 
planes, Shannon said. He said the aircraft would be new, avoiding a 
repeat of the 1990s, when the United States donated more than 70 
Vietnam War-era Huey helicopters to Mexico. The helicopters were so 
expensive to maintain that Mexico eventually returned most of them.

"We're not going to do that again," Shannon said.

The Bell 412 is a more modern version of the Huey. The Spanish-built 
CASA CN-235s are twin-engine turboprops that can fly at 280 mph and 
land on short airstrips.

The U.S. Coast Guard flies a very similar plane, raising the 
possibility of joint anti-drug missions in the future, Shannon said.

An additional $100 million in the first wave of U.S. aid would go 
toward making Mexico's law enforcement system more effective, 
including classes and equipment to help conduct investigations, 
perform forensic tests, manage prisons and prepare court cases, Shannon said.

Another large share of the money would go toward X-ray machines, ion 
scanners and other devices for searching cargo, he said.

The package also calls for a major increase in U.S.-led training 
programs, although U.S. officials have stressed that U.S. forces will 
not be going on missions with Mexican soldiers or police, and the 
number of U.S. personnel operating in Mexico will not increase.

A small part of the $500 million would go toward weapons, Shannon 
said. He declined to elaborate. Mexican police complain they are 
increasingly outgunned by drug smugglers who buy assault-style 
rifles, grenade launchers and hand grenades in the USA.

Some experts in Mexico worry that increased military activity will 
lead to more drug-related violence. "I don't think (the aid) is going 
to stop the violence in Mexico. It's going to exacerbate it, raise 
the cost of drugs and worsen things," said Miguel Sarre, a criminal 
justice professor at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake