DEFENSE SECRETARY GATES CALLS FOR MEXICAN BORDER SECURITY

Visiting Mexico, the US's top defense official says he wants funds to
fight drug-trafficking violence and ward off potential threats from
militants entering the US.

As violence flares in Mexico's drug war, threatening security on the
US border, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates made a historic trip to
Mexico this week as part of the Pentagon's push for Latin American
countries to deploy more military resources against drug trafficking.
It's also part of a security effort to shore up potential threats that
could emerge from militants crossing the border.

Shootouts in Tijuana, Mexico's most violent city, are nothing new. But
a recent firefight between drug cartels was one of the more violent
episodes, Reuters reports.

Mexico's government sent more than 3,000 soldiers and federal police
to Tijuana on Tuesday, stepping up a war against violent drug
smugglers after 17 gunmen were killed in a street battle between cartels.

The move is part of a broader deployment of soldiers that Mexico's
president, Felipe Calderon, has initiated at Washington's behest. Mr.
Calderon has sent 24,000 military and security forces to areas overrun
by drug gangs; Mexico drug trade resulted more than 2,500 deaths in
2007, reported The Christian Science Monitor.

The violence comes as Mr. Gates was in Mexico to meet with Mexican
defense ministry officials - the second-ever visit to Mexico by a US
defense secretary, Agence France-Presse reports.

Gates said the focus of his talks in Mexico was the so-called Merida
Initiative proposed by US President George W. Bush in October to build
up the capabilities of the Mexican military and law enforcement to
battle drug cartels.

The multi-year package would provide, among other things, helicopters
and surveillance aircraft to the Mexican military, which the Pentagon
sees as an opportunity to strengthen military ties that historically
have been chilly.

The US administration has requested 550 million dollars for the
program this year in a 2008 emergency war funding bill that the US
Congress has so far failed to approve.

Gates said he hoped on the basis of conversations with leaders in both
houses that the Congress will act on the bill by the end of May.

"Failure to do so I think would be I think a real slap at Mexico, and
it would be very disappointing," he said.

Bush administration officials view the program as a possible lever for
deepening U.S.-Mexican military relations at a time when Washington
needs Mexico's help in shoring up border security against potential
threats from Islamist militants.

The Pentagon sees crime, drugs and street gangs as the top security
problems facing Latin America and wants the region's soldiers, not its
police, to tackle them.

Violence is flaring all along Mexico's northern border as drug cartels
battle for control of the trade, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

[The shootouts] come amid a spike in violence along Mexico's northern
border as drug gangs battle one another and face off against law
enforcement agencies that have stepped up efforts against organized
crime.

The Arellano Felix drug cartel, long the dominant criminal
organization in Baja California, has lost key leaders in recent years,
leaving smaller cells to operate more independently, U.S. and Mexican
experts say. Some groups have expanded from drug smuggling to
kidnapping and extortion.

"There is a war all along the northern border, not just in Baja
California," Rommel Moreno Manjarrez, Baja California's attorney
general, said at an afternoon news conference.

In a recent article, the Los Angeles Times reports that despite the
Calderon government's push, supplies of illegal drugs crossing into
the United States have not gone down.

The supply of cocaine declined in several U.S. cities during the first
half of 2007, according to the U.S. National Drug Threat Assessment, a
multi-agency report on the problem.

The drop in availability was probably a combined result of several
large seizures of cocaine shipments en route to the United States,
Mexico's anti-drug efforts, and warfare among rival Mexican
traffickers, the report says.

By late 2007, supply "appeared to be returning to normal" in some U.S.
markets, the report says. At the same time, the amount of cash
smuggled in bulk from the United States to Mexico continued to
increase, a sign that traffickers' revenues are still healthy.

With cash still to be made in the drug trade, traffickers will
continue to operate. And violence related to the drug trade is likely
to continue, reports the Associated Press.

Calderon admits the crackdown hasn't reduced violence yet, saying it
will take years to seize back control of large parts of Mexico from
the drug gangs. That leaves many people impatient.

"Other countries - even Iraq - have strategies against violence," said
Dr. Ruben Corral.... "What is our Plan B? We don't know what the
government's strategy is."

According to the security assessment group, Stratfor (subscription
required), the violence and the drug trade continue because local
government officials are involved, which underscores why the problem
on the US border may not be resolved through military might alone.

These firefights also came just a few days after an army general
responsible for military efforts against organized crime in Tijuana
released a letter to the media in which he named state and city
officials whom he accused of negligence, corruption and complicity
with organized crime. The publication of the letter has already led to
at least one resignation - and prompted the general to increase his
personal security. Given these developments, it seems unlikely the
security situation in the city will improve anytime soon.