Monday, May 4, 2009

Clinton in Mexico for drug talks

Clinton in Mexico for drug talks

Hillary Clinton (file image)
Hillary Clinton will meet Mexico's president and foreign minister

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has arrived in Mexico for talks set to be dominated by rising drug violence in America's southern neighbour.

Mrs Clinton's visit comes a day after the Obama administration announced new measures to boost border security.

Some 8,000 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico over the past two years and there are fears the violence could spill over the border.

Trade and immigration issues will also be high on Mrs Clinton's agenda.

'Co-responsibility'

"Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade," Mrs Clinton said upon arrival in Mexico.

We need to do more to make sure that illegal guns and cash aren't flowing back to the cartels
US President Barack Obama

"Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians.

"I feel very strongly we have a co-responsibility."

Mexico and the US are currently locked in a trade dispute, after the US government stopped a pilot scheme earlier this month which allowed Mexican trucks to use roads in the US.

Mexico said the decision violated a free-trade deal between the countries and retaliated by imposing higher tariffs on some 90 American exports.

In signs of movement on the issue, US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and other Obama administration officials have reportedly been working on plans to revive the scheme.

Mexico's Economy Minister Gerardo Ruiz Mateos said on Tuesday that his country would lift its tariffs as soon as the US returned to its "agreed commitments" on access for its trucks.

Illegal guns

But it is the drugs-related violence in Mexico that is likely to be the focus of Mrs Clinton's discussions.

On Tuesday, the White House unveiled a $700m (

No comments: