MEXICO ANTI-DRUG AID PLAN REPORTED

$700 Million Deal Could Help Calderon's Effort

WASHINGTON -- Mexican President Felipe Calderon, locked in a bloody
confrontation with drug cartels, is negotiating a massive counter-drug
aid package with the Bush administration worth hundreds of millions of
dollars, several officials say.

Officials on both sides are working out the details of a package that
resembles a U.S. aid plan for Colombia. The talks have been taking
place quietly for several months and will be a central item on the
agenda when President Bush and Calderon are expected to meet in Quebec
Aug. 20-21.

Mexican officials have been reluctant to go public with the
discussions, mindful of anti-U.S. sentiments harbored by many Mexicans.

But the conservative Calderon believes he has little choice but to
enlist U.S. help given the cross-border nature of drug trafficking and
the ruthlessness of Mexico's drug gangs, officials and observers said.

U.S. officials would say little other than to acknowledge the
discussions.

"We're working very closely with the Mexicans on counter-narcotics on
a variety of fronts and at all levels of government," said National
Security Council spokeswoman Katherine Starr. "Presidents Bush and
Calderon look forward to discussing this and other issues when they
meet in Canada in August."

'Can't do this alone'But officials view the talks as a bold initiative
by Calderon that underscores his resolve to tame drug-related violence
- -- most of it between rival cartels -- that has cost the lives of
3,000 Mexicans in the past year alone and forced the intervention of
20,000 federal troops.

"I think the Mexicans realize it's going to get worse before it gets
better," said Roger Noriega, a former assistant secretary of state for
the Western Hemisphere and now with the American Enterprise Institute
think tank.

"They can't do this alone, and should not have to do this alone,"
Noriega said.

One problem in the talks is that U.S. law enforcement agencies are
wary of sharing crucial intelligence information with their Mexican
counterparts, viewed as splintered and infiltrated by drug gangs.

Noriega says such prejudices ought to be set aside and the two
countries should carry out joint operations "seamlessly integrated
across the border."

The Drug Enforcement Administration estimates that 90 percent of the
cocaine consumed in the United States comes in from Mexico, which also
supplies the United States with large quantities of marijuana, heroin
and methamphetamine.

'No wall high enough'For Washington, the stakes in Calderon's
anti-drug push go beyond law and order issues.

"If Calderon loses this battle," says Noriega, "then there will be no
wall high enough to keep out Mexicans who are displaced by violence
and by the security threat that undermines Mexico's growth."

Bush and Calderon hinted at an aid package when they met in Merida,
Mexico, on March 14. Bush praised Calderon for his tough stand against
organized crime and drugs and recognized that as a consumer nation,
"the United States has a responsibility in the fight against drugs."

People familiar with the talks say Mexico drew up a list of needs that
included equipment, training and technology, including Black Hawk
helicopters, which are difficult to come by given the U.S. wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan.

The price tag on the more ambitious aspiration is $1.2 billion, but a
more modest proposal has emerged in recent weeks in the area of $700
million, said one person familiar with the talks.