Pubdate: Sat, 07 Mar 2009 Source: Oregonian, The (Portland, OR) Pubdate: Sat, 07 Mar 2009 Copyright: 2009 The Oregonian Contact: http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/324 GROWING FEARS ON THE SOUTHERN BORDER America is casting a wary eye on Mexico, not because of the toxic national debate over immigration or about trade policy, but because of crime. Fears about narcotics-related violence have begun to tilt American policy in a way that the other debates haven't. Mexico is plagued by drug-fueled warfare, as Mexican government officials admit. President Felipe Calderon says 6,000 people died in drug violence in Mexico last year -- 1,600 of them in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas. Another 1,000 people have been killed in drug violence so far this year. Yet this is not an exclusively Mexican problem. The drugs may be found in Mexico, but most of the weapons come from the United States. So does much of the cash. And the violence threatens citizens of both countries. The State Department issued a travelers' alert last month warning visitors of a spike in carjackings, robberies, assaults and murders, including full-scale, daylight gunbattles. The rise in violence has led the U.S. Mission in Mexico to forbid non-essential travel in the regions of Durango and Coahuila. Much of the increased violence is the result of Calderon's crackdown on drug cartels. He has sent Mexican troops into some hot spots in an effort to root out the most dangerous traffickers. This has spawned fights between government troops and drug lords, but also among drug lords themselves as they compete for control of lucrative routes. For taking on the drug trade, Calderon has won the praise and promises of support of U.S. officials from President Barack Obama to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. On NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the United States has begun to set aside its long-standing "biases against cooperation" with Mexico because of the seriousness of the problem. He said the U.S. military may be in a position to provide some help with intelligence and other resources. The United States recognizes that the violence not only poses an immediate danger, but threatens future security as well. U.S. Marine Corps officers at The Basic School in Quantico, Va., show visitors a pair of slides that show Mexico colored amber, meaning they see it as a source of potential instability and conflict, based on the escalation of drug-based violence. Much of this is because the country could become a corridor for Latin American drug crime and unrest. The problem demonstrates, as Obama said recently, that homeland security is indistinguishable from national security. The governments of the United States and Mexico must cooperate to subdue the drug trade, even militarily. Suppressing the flow of drugs, after all, is one of the central missions of the U.S. military in Afghanistan -- a nation on the other side of the world. How much more important is it when the nation is right next door? - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom