WELCOME FOR US AID FOR MEXICO'S DRUG WAR

Civil groups on Friday said that the approved version of a
multimillion-dollar US aid package to help Mexico in its war against
drugs was a valuable tool in efforts to combat human rights abuses.

"We are pretty encouraged," said Jose Miguel Vivanco, Latin America
director of Human Rights Watch in Washington. "We feel quite positive
about the whole outcome."

On Thursday, the US House of Representatives passed by an
overwhelming majority the Merida Initiative that will give Mexico
$400m in funds this year to help confront organised crime,
particularly the flow of drugs through Mexico into the US.

In recent years, Mexico has become a principal route for narcotics
from South America to the US and the country's cartels have grown
rich and powerful in the process. Felipe Calderon, the president, has
made combatting these groups a priority of his centre-right
administration and has enlisted thousands from Mexico's army to try
to win back territory lost to the cartels.

But in the last 18 months, human rights groups have expressed their
concern that there are insufficient checks and balances within
Mexico's police and armed forces to ensure that abuses are not
committed and that perpetrators are brought to justice.

In an effort to address those concerns, the bill - which unified the
versions of the House and Senate and which must now be passed by the
US Senate, - requires that $73.5m of the amount must be used for
judicial reform, institution-building, human rights and rule-of-law issues.

It states that 15 per cent of the funds will be dependent on Mexico
making headway in four areas relating to human-rights issues, and on
which the US Secretary of State will have to report periodically to Congress.

These include improving the accountability of federal police forces,
establishing regular consultations with human rights groups on
implementation of the package, ensuring that civil authorities
investigate federal police and armed forces accused of abuses, and
enforcing a prohibition on testimony obtained through torture.

Mexican authorities are understood to be much happier with the
wording of the package, which contains the phrase "in accordance with
Mexican and international law" in at least three of the conditions
relating to human rights.

Mr Calderon's government had previously voiced concern because it
felt that the omission of the phrase in the first two versions gave
the impression that Mexico was pandering to US demands.

Tim Rieser, aide to Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the
appropriations subcommittee on State and foreign operations, told the
FT that the new version was the result of widespread consultation
with all parties.

"The Congress consulted with the Mexican Embassy, the Department of
State, and with human rights groups," he said. "The agreement
addresses concerns raised by the Mexican government, and it reaffirms
that this is not a blank check and that human rights violators need
to be brought to justice."

Mr Vivanco on Friday said he believed that the final version did not
represent a step backwards for human rights issues compared with the
first two. "The language is not just a token. It is meaningful," he said.