Posted on 02/16/2009 8:18:22 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
WASHINGTON — South Texas lawmakers headed to Mexico Monday to meet President Felipe Calderón and discuss additional U.S. aid, including expanded intelligence sharing, to curb the rising threat of violence from narcotics cartels.
Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, and Rep. Rubén Hinojosa, D-Mercedes, were part of a U.S. congressional delegation to meet with Calderón and Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina about drug-fueled violence along the border.
“It’s an alarm I’ve been ringing since 2005,” Cuellar said before leaving for Mexico City. “Violence has now spread out to other places.”
Drug cartels are waging a turf war across Mexico.
Last week, the Mexican federal police announced the arrest of a 10-member “hit” squad hired to wipe out a rival gang. On Sunday, armed gunman entered the home of a Tabasco policeman and opened fire, killing 12 people, including six children. The policeman was a member of an elite squad formed to confront violence by the cartels, according to Mexican news reports.
In a meeting last month in Washington, President Barack Obama and Calderón pledged to increase efforts to curb the flow of drugs and weapons between the United States and Mexico.
The two leaders voiced support for the Mérida Initiative, named for the resort town where Calderón and former President George W. Bush hammered out a 2007 agreement that will send $1.6 billion to Mexico over the next three years.
Last week, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars issued a report saying the United States must do more to help Mexico deal with gun smuggling, which has fueled the violence and threatens to spill across the border.
“When you talk to the Mexicans, it is the first thing they say: stop the gun running to Mexico,” Cuellar said.
The congressional delegation is meeting with former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza, as well as Mexican lawmakers, to determine other ways the United States can assist in efforts to combat the cartels.
“The Mérida Initiative is going to help, but there has to be more intelligence sharing,” Cuellar said. “Mérida helps the feds. We also need to help the state and local law enforcement.”
The $787 billion stimulus bill passed by Congress last week includes $10 million for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to hire agents to investigate and prosecute gun smugglers.
Border lawmakers from Texas and New Mexico have filed a bill that calls for $30 million over two years to hire 80 new BATF agents to prosecute gun traffickers.
Stop Mexicans from buying the guns here, Cuellar.
Ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
All of it.......guns going south, illegals and drugs going north......equates to better border security. Even if the individual states have to bear the burden to do so, this is the only answer.
More fences, more people, more surveillance, and more attention...if my Governor went on TV and said that taxes had to go up to do it, then, I’d be for it.
it would be nice to think this group would also address the problem of keeping their own people(Mexicans) home and stop coming across the border to wreak havoc on the welfare state and educational system of amerikka.
woopsie, i forgot, the US of Amerikka needs voters.
what a damn shame :(
(BTW: Agree with your comments, just thought it funny that someone from granola-land would be commenting on illegal immigration).
Obviously you have only read my single comment.
Have you read my profile before commenting?
I hate granola.
btw,if you knew any of Vermont history the sorry sad state of Vermont on tradition and conservatism went out the window in 1958 prior to the REAL CRUNCHERS invasion of 1960.
anything else?
I didn’t get pinged on this one, so I guess I’m not on it. Please add me, thanks
A few of us that live near the border have been screaming for years that the mess we’ve had here would end up all across the country. I’m very happy that someone from Vt. gets it. We need all the help we can get.
Wow. A whole $10 million out of $787 billion worth of porkulus. Looks like they ended up on the shallow end of the trough, LOL!
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