WHITE HOUSE PROMISES $1.4B FOR MEXICO'S DRUG WAR

Mexican President Has Aggressively Pursued Crime; Gangs Are Fighting Back

MEXICO CITY -- The White House pledged $1.4 billion Monday to aid
Mexico's crackdown on drug-related crime that has spread across the
border into the USA.

The package includes a wide range of logistical assistance and
equipment, including training for troops, surveillance planes,
helicopters and X-ray machines.

The aid will not include U.S. troops.

The Bush administration asked Congress for the initial $500 million in
a supplemental budget request, along with an additional $50 million
for Central American countries.

"We are at a particular moment in which organized crime presents a
very real threat to the stability and well-being of democratic states
in Mexico and Central America," said Thomas Shannon, assistant U.S.
secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere.

Previous Mexican governments have had little visible success in
curtailing drug smuggling, but the U.S. government credits recent
Mexican efforts with a decline in cocaine supply in many U.S. cities.

Days after taking office, Mexican President Felipe Calderon ordered
thousands of troops into his home state of Michoacan, a center of
methamphetamine production, to quell drug violence.

That was followed by deployments of troops to Nuevo Laredo, Tijuana,
Acapulco and other drug hot spots.

Drug gangs have responded by assassinating several top police
officials.

A recent report commissioned by the Texas Border Security Council says
more than 2,100 people have been killed in drug-related violence in
Mexico since Jan. 1.

The report, whose chief author was former State Department
counterterrorism agent Fred Burton, also said criminal activity was
spreading across the border in part because of corruption by
unspecified "low- and mid-level U.S. law enforcement officials."

"The United States will do all it can to support Mexico's efforts to
break the power and impunity of drug organizations and to strengthen
Mexico's capabilities to deal with these common threats," White House
spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement.

Calderon's government requested the aid package during a summit in
March in Merida, Mexico, Shannon said.

The request marked a major shift in Mexico's dealings with the United
States.

Mexico has long avoided U.S. military intervention, turning down most
military aid offers, refusing to participate in joint military
exercises and barring U.S. troops from operating on Mexican soil. The
distrust dates from the Mexican-American war in 1846-48, in which
Mexico lost half of its territory to the United States.

The increase in organized crime has made the problem more urgent to
the Mexican public, overwhelming objections to U.S. involvement, said
Ana Laura Magaloni, a professor of international law at the Center for
Economics Research and Education, a top foreign policy school in
Mexico City.

The funds for Mexico are part of a budget request that also asks for
$46 billion to fund wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"If the U.S. Congress approves the funds, both countries will benefit
in their efforts against this scourge," Mexico's Foreign Relations
Department said in a statement.

Shannon said the program was not similar to Plan Colombia, the U.S.
program to fight drugs and insurgents in Colombia, because much of the
money for Mexico seeks to improve the capability of Mexico's police to
solve crimes.

According to the State Department, the funds would help establish
witness protection programs, vet police officers, build computer
systems to track investigations and set up citizen complaint offices.