DRUG FIGHTING PLAN IRKS CENTRAL AMERICA

MEXICO CITY -- The funding imbalance in the Bush administration's new
anti-drug plan, which would send 10 times as much aid to Mexico as to
all seven Central American nations combined, is generating anxiety in
Central America.

A packet of six documents obtained by The Washington Post shows that
no Central American nation would receive more than $10 million, and
most would get less than $3 million -- in contrast to $500 million
proposed for Mexico. Central American political leaders and activists
expressed concerns that if most of the money goes to Mexico, drug
cartels will shift their operations to countries such as Guatemala and
El Salvador.

Materials being presented by the Bush administration to Congress
describe the Central American isthmus as "the primary transit point
for people, drugs and arms destined for the United States." But
several Central American activists and officials said in interviews
last week that the $50 million Bush proposal for the seven countries
is insufficient.

"It's clear -- it's obvious -- that in economic terms Central America
is not a priority for the United States," said Jeannette Aguilar, an
analyst at the University of Central America in San Salvador.

President Bush announced the aid package Oct. 22 after a series of
meetings with Mexican President Felipe Calderon. The total $550
million package is included in a supplemental war funding bill being
considered by Congress. State Department officials have said they will
seek an additional $900 million for Central America and Mexico in the
next two years.

State Department spokesman Rob McInturff said the aid plan is still
being developed and is likely to be adjusted by Congress. "We want to
look at the narco-trafficking problem holistically in a way that
includes Mexico and Central America," he said. "This is a good
starting point."

The proposal is the largest international anti-drug effort by the
United States since the launch seven years ago of a program to fight
drug trafficking and Marxist rebels in Colombia, at an annual cost of
about $600 million.

Mr. Calderon sought the aid package because of escalating violence
between drug cartels, blamed for more than 4,000 deaths in the past 18
months. Analysts and Mexican law enforcement officials say rival
cartels are trying to capitalize on power vacuums left by the arrest
of several drug kingpins.

Central American nations banded together to seek help in combating
drug cartels and street gangs seen as largely responsible for the
astoundingly high homicide rates in the region. In 2005, for instance,
the murder rate in El Salvador was 56 per 100,000 people -- six times
the world average, according to the Congressional Research Service.

In Guatemala, drug traffickers were suspected in the killings of
dozens of local candidates and political workers before the first
round of presidential voting in September, and are widely believed to
have infiltrated most government institutions in the country.