Foreign News Report

The National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO) extracts and condenses the material that follows from Mexican and Central and South American on-line media sources on a daily basis. You are free to disseminate this information, but we request that you credit NAFBPO as being the provider.

Mexican President Felipe Calderón's meeting yesterday with governors of the border states and the Mérida Initiative dominated the news and commentary today.

El Universal (Mexico City) 5/30/08

In an editorial titled "United States, like an ostrich," the newspaper stated that, "The United States had the opportunity to demonstrate real commitment in the fight against narcotraffic with the Mérida Initiative. They wasted it." The editorial quoted Calderón as saying, "The border violence basically obeys one clear fact: the United States drug market is the largest in the world." It goes on to say that this fact falls on deaf ears in the U.S. It comments that the message the U.S. Congress sends is that it considers the problem to be Mexico's although the cartels are already operating on U.S. soil, kidnapping, buying arms and shooting at agents who patrol the border.

La Crónica de Hoy (Mexico City) 5/30/08

In commentary headed, "Calderón speaks clearly to the U.S." the columnist going by the name Pepe Grillo commends President Calderón for speaking "clearly and with courage" to the meeting with the border governors of Texas, New Mexico and California. Quoting the president, "We supply the deaths, you supply the drug addicts." This is the plain truth, the commentary says, and the U.S. should recognize it and join the fight without conditions.

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El Porvenir (Monterrey, Nuevo León) 5/30/08

Citing the same quote about lives for drugs, today's editorial says that Calderón confronted those who expect Mexico to face and solve the narcotraffic problem by itself. It also made the point that the U.S. drug market is the problem. The meeting with the governors Thursday consisted also of those from the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sonora, Nuevo León and Baja California.

The editorial then moves from the governors' meeting to the Mérida Initiative, quoting Juan Camilo Mouriño, Secretary of Government (no U.S. equivalent) as saying its conditions are "unacceptable." It cites the Mexican government's impatience and concerns with the initiative's progress and conditions.

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Frontera (Tijuana, Baja California) 5/30/08

Amnesty International insists that safeguards of human rights be included in the Mérida Initiative pending final approval. The organization insisted that the program against narcotraffic, organized crime and corruption be independently monitored.

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El Debate (Sinaloa) 5/30/08

In an editorial, the newspaper contends that the federal government's forces are ill equipped to combat the violence of narcotraffic. It calls for a change in strategy, better preparation and planning and knowledge of the areas of combat. It suggests that federal forces are insufficient in combating organized crime and that local enforcement agencies live in fear of being victims. Meanwhile, there are no positive results and the climate of anxiety continues, it concludes.

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