CONGRESS TRIMS BUSH'S MEXICO DRUG PLAN

MEXICO CITY -- The United States Congress has scaled back on
President Bush's anti-drug plans for Mexico and put human rights
conditions on some of the aid, drawing fire from some Mexicans who
accuse American lawmakers of meddling in their country's internal affairs.

As part of a broader emergency appropriations bill that remains under
discussion and could face a presidential veto, the Senate on Thursday
approved $350 million to aid Mexico in what has become a pitched
battle against drug trafficking. The Senate would also give $100
million to countries in Central America that are in drug wars of
their own, as well as to the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

Besides reducing the Bush administration's request, which would have
sent $500 million to Mexico and $50 million to Central America, the
Senate adopted language similar to that in a recently passed House
bill that would hold up a quarter of the money until the State
Department ruled that Mexico was meeting certain human rights
markers. The House approved $400 million for Mexico, one of several
differences that will be worked out in a House-Senate conference in
the coming weeks.

The Senate measure still represents a major increase in aid to Mexico
in a single year, legislative aides said, reflecting bipartisan
concern over the fact that an estimated 90 percent of the cocaine
entering the United States comes through Mexican territory.

But at issue is the performance of Mexico's army and the police,
which have been accused by human rights organizations of engaging in
abuses as they chase down the country's drug cartels.

"Human rights abuses in the army are routinely investigated by the
military itself, and that leads to impunity," said Tamara Taraciuk,
Mexico researcher for Human Rights Watch. "The big issue is accountability."

To address that, the Congressional plans ask the secretary of state
to report on whether Mexico was prohibiting testimony obtained
through torture and trying soldiers accused of abuses in civilian
courts, among other conditions.

Since President Felipe Calderon of Mexico started his drug war in
2007, more than 200 law enforcement officers have been killed, among
them at least two dozen top commanders. The overall body count is
estimated to be 1,300 people so far this year, on track to exceed the
roughly 2,500 drug-related killings in 2007.

The Bush administration has pointed to a recent surge of violence as
evidence of the need for the so-called Merida Initiative, which is
the name given to the spending deal struck last year by Mr. Bush and
Mr. Calderon. But Congress was left out of the initial deal making,
resulting in hard feelings when Mr. Bush submitted the plan.

The trims to the president's plan, and the strings attached by
lawmakers in Washington, clearly irked some Mexicans. The Mexican
government was working behind the scenes in Washington to soften some
of the legislative language, Congressional aides said. The newspaper
La Jornada said in an editorial this week that it was "a grotesque
and absurd pretension" that the United States, which has human rights
issues of its own in its detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, should
be scrutinizing Mexico's armed forces.

Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, dismissed such
criticism in a speech on Wednesday introducing the spending plan.

"Since when is it bad policy, or an infringement of anything, to
insist that American taxpayer dollars not be given to corrupt,
abusive police or military forces in a country whose justice system
has serious flaws and rarely punishes official misconduct?" he said.
"This is a partnership, not a giveaway."

Mr. Bush's proposal called for spending for military hardware, mostly
helicopters, but also programs to root out corruption within law
enforcement agencies and increase the protection of witnesses. The
Congressional plans would scrutinize any money directed to the army.