Delays in U.S. Aid to Mexico Criticized

Mexican President Felipe Calderon voiced his concern that the U.S. government has spent very little of the $1.4 billion promised in 2008 to help combat drug trafficking in Mexico,   the Washington Post reported April 5.

The deepening drug-related security crisis in Mexico was the focus of the “Merida Initiative,” approved by Congress in July 2007 and signed into law by former President George W. Bush.

The State Department declared that $197 million of the funds had been “released.” However, only two projects — the delivery of high-speed computer servers and an arms-trafficking workshop attended by senior U.S. officials at a Mexican resort — have been financed to date.

Calderon recently complained about the delays to visiting U.S. congressional delegations, American officials said. Some Mexican officials have expressed skepticism about the U.S. commitment to the drug war. “The Merida plan has been overly publicized but with very little actual effect for the magnitude of problems that we are facing,” said César Duarte, president of Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies.

The Mexican government was initially told that it would receive eight new Bell 412 helicopters, seen as vital for reachinbg high-value targets anywhere in the country. When Congress cut $100 million from the initial proposal, the number of helicopters was reduced to five.

U.S. officials are hopeful that Mexico will receive five helicopters by the end of 2009. The State Department and the Pentagon have said that it will take 18 to 24 months after a contract is signed to deliver the helicopters, but the contract cannot be negotiated until a 30-day congressional notification period expires in mid-April.

“We are moving as fast as we can, but we also have to do this right,” said Roberta Jacobson, deputy assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs.