MEXICO'S DRUG-CONTROL INITIATIVE REFLECTS MORE TRUST IN U.S.

MEXICO CITY -- When Mexico's foreign minister laid out her proposal
for a U.S.-Mexican military and police alliance against drug lords
last spring, veteran U.S. diplomats in the room realized it was a
break from the past.

"We all immediately grasped the historic nature of the moment," said
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon, the State
Department's point man for Latin America. "It represented a dramatic
departure in our bilateral relationship."

Experts say the $1.4 billion "Merida Initiative," made public last
week, is a major change for Mexico, which has historically been
suspicious of U.S. meddling in its affairs. U.S. officials hope it
could open the door to more cooperation on immigration, terrorism and
other issues.

Five months after Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa first
outlined the plan in a meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice in Washington, the first $500 million of aid is being debated by
Congress. It would include money for surveillance aircraft, police
training, high-tech communications gear and weapons.

Though the money would be used to help modernize Mexico's
crime-fighting abilities, some left-leaning Mexican politicians say
the pact would give U.S. agents access to state secrets and erode
Mexican sovereignty. The United States "wants to make our country
submit to it, in order to eventually get our oil and natural
resources," Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the 2006 presidential
candidate of the Democratic Revolutionary Party, told supporters Friday.

President Felipe Calderon's government has responded by saying the
aid would be in equipment and training -- and that Mexico would not
be flooded by U.S. agents.

"There is no need to have (U.S.) advisers, nor troops, nor civilians,
nor soldiers dressed like civilians," Mexico's assistant attorney
general for international affairs, Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos,
said in a radio interview.

There has been little public opposition to the plan, reflecting a
change in how Mexicans view the United States, analysts said.

"Society in general wants security. It wants institutions that are
more committed to peace and order," said Antonio Lopez Ugalde, a law
professor at Ibero-American University in Mexico City. "Being backed
by a country like the United States in this fight against crime is
appealing to people."

The Mexican government's distrust of the United States dates to the
1846-48 Mexican-American War, when Mexico lost half of its territory
to its northern neighbor.

The Mexican military has long refused most U.S. aid. It won't
participate in joint exercises with U.S. forces or allow U.S. bases
on its soil. For decades, it sent aircraft mechanics and other
technical personnel to the USA for training rather than allow U.S.
military trainers to work in Mexico.

That began to change under President Vicente Fox, who studied in the
USA and whose grandfather was American. During Fox's 2000-06 term,
U.S. military and police aid to Mexico nearly tripled from $15.7
million in 2000 to $45.8 million in 2006, according to the Center for
International Policy, a Washington think tank.

Fox also extradited more alleged drug smugglers to the United States
for trial, handing over a record 63 suspects in 2006.

In 2003, Mexico began permitting U.S. military trainers to give
classes in Mexico City and expanded the training from purely
technical subjects to counterterrorism and intelligence. Some
students were also trained at Fort Huachuca in Arizona.

Calderon has taken the anti-drug fight further by sending troops into
violence-plagued Tijuana, Nuevo Laredo and Michoacan state. He has
handed over to the United States key drug suspects, including the
alleged leader of the Gulf Cartel.

Calderon first suggested a joint drug-control strategy at a March
summit with President Bush in Mexico. It wasn't until Espinosa
proposed a dollar figure on May 22 that U.S. officials learned how
ambitious Calderon's plan was, Shannon said.

At $500 million, the initial U.S. aid package is equivalent to more
than half of the Mexican Justice Department's 2007 budget of $846 million.

U.S. officials hope the aid, which must be approved by Congress, will
help Mexico patrol its southern border better, cutting the number of
Central American migrants who reach the USA, Shannon said.

"Ultimately the kinds of organized crime networks that move drugs and
weapons also move people," he said.

Though the Bush administration has stressed that U.S. personnel will
not join Mexican police on missions, Shannon said the two countries
are still discussing maritime security agreements that might allow
better anti-drug coordination.

He said the surveillance planes the United States will provide to
Mexico are the same model that the Coast Guard flies, raising the
possibility of joint anti-drug missions in the future.