Pubdate: Fri, 03 May 2013
Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)
Copyright: 2013 The Arizona Republic
Website: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24
Author: Julie Pace, Associated Press
Page: A1

OBAMA IN MEXICO AS DRUG WAR IS SHIFTING

Goal: Better U.S.-Mexican Links

MEXICO CITY - President Barack Obama sought Thursday to tamp down a
potential rift with Mexico over a dramatic shift in the crossborder
fight against drug trafficking and organized crime, acceding that
Mexicans have the right to determine how best to tackle the violence
that has plagued their country.

Since taking office in December, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto
has moved to end the widespread access that U.S. security agencies
have had in Mexico to tackle the violence that affects both sides of
the border. It's a departure from the strategy employed by his
predecessor, Felipe Calderon, which was praised by the U.S. but
reviled by many Mexicans.

Obama said the shifting security relationship will not hurt
cooperation between the neighboring nations.

"I agreed to continue our close cooperation on security, even as the
nature of that cooperation will evolve," Obama said during a joint
news conference at Mexico's grand National Palace. "It is obviously up
to the Mexican people to determine their security structures and how
it engages with the other nations - including the United States."

Pena Nieto downplayed the notion, as well, that the new, more
centralized arrangement would damage its security partnership with the
United States.

He said Obama agreed during their private meeting earlier in the day
to "cooperate on the basis of mutual respect" to promote an efficient
and effective strategy.

Obama arrived in Mexico on Thursday afternoon for a three-day trip
that will include a stop in Costa Rica.

Domestic issues followed the president south of the border, with Obama
facing questions in his exchange with reporters about the potential
escalation of the U.S. role in Syria, a controversy over contraception
access for teenage girls and the delicate debate on Capitol Hill on an
immigration overhaul.

The latter issue is being closely watched in Mexico, given the large
number of Mexicans who have immigrated to the U.S. both legally and
illegally. More than half of the 11 million people in the U.S.
illegally are Mexican, according to the Pew Research Center.

For Obama, the immigration debate is rife with potential political
pitfalls. Although he views an overhaul of the nation's patchwork
immigration laws as a legacy-building issue, he has been forced to
keep a low profile in the debate to avoid scaring off wary
Republicans.

In an effort to court those GOP lawmakers, the draft bill being
debated on Capitol Hill focuses heavily on securing the border with
Mexico and makes doing so a precondition for a pathway to citizenship
for those in the U.S. illegally.

But Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, one of the bill's architects,
said Thursday that unless the border-security measures are made even
tougher, the legislation will face tough odds not only in the
GOP-controlled House but also in the Democratic-led Senate.

The president acknowledged there are some areas along the 2,000-mile
border between the U.S. and Mexico where security needs to be
tightened. But he gently chided Rubio and other Republicans for
putting up obstacles that would derail final legislation.

"I suspect that the final legislation will not contain everything I
want. It won't contain everything that Republican leaders want,
either," Obama said.

He added that "what I'm not going to do is to go along with something
where we're looking for an excuse not to do it, as opposed to a way to
do it."

Despite the intense interest in the immigration debate among Mexicans,
Pena Nieto carefully avoided injecting himself into the issue.

While he commended the U.S. for tackling the challenge, he said the
congressional debate "is a domestic affair."

The new Mexican leader was purposely seeking to avoid the perceived
missteps of former Mexican President Vicente Fox, who irked
conservatives in the U.S. by lobbying for an immigration overhaul in
2001.

Pena Nieto's election brought Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary
Party, or PRI, back to power after a decade on the sidelines. The
security changes are emblematic of the party's preference for
centralized political and bureaucratic control.

The arrangement means all contact for U.S. law enforcement will now go
through a "single door," according to Mexico's federal Interior
Ministry, the agency that controls security and domestic policy.

Under the previous policy, FBI, CIA, Drug Enforcement Administration
and Border Patrol agents had direct access to units of Mexico's
Federal Police, army and navy. U.S. agents worked side by side with
those Mexican units in the fight against drug cartels, including the
U.S.-backed strategy of killing or arresting top kingpins.

Obama lauded his Mexican counterpart for launching bold reforms during
his first months in office, not only on security but also the economy.

Both leaders have said they want to refocus the U.S.-Mexican
relationship on trade and the economy, not the drug wars and
immigration issues that have dominated the partnership in recent years.

In a nod to that effort, Obama and Pena Nieto announced a new
partnership for closer cooperation between top officials in both
countries. Vice President Joe Biden will also participate in that
process, Obama said.

The economic relationship between the two countries already is robust,
with Mexico accounting for $500 billion in U.S. trade in 2011 and
ranking as the second-largest export market for U.S. goods after Canada.

A stronger Mexican economy would result in even more trade and job
growth on both sides of the border, Obama aides say.

Today, Obama will speak to an audience of Mexican students before
heading to Costa Rica for talks with Central American leaders. His
meetings there are expected to focus on bolstering regional economic
cooperation as well as security issues.
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MAP posted-by: Matt