RICE VISITS MEXICO FOR A MEETING ABOUT ITS DRUG WAR

MEXICO CITY -- The Bush administration signaled its alarm about
Mexico's vicious drug war by sending the American secretary of state
on Wednesday to a two-day meeting on improving cross-border
cooperation in the battle against the country's powerful drug cartels.

The Bush administration increasingly sees the violent clashes in
Mexico as a threat to American security, and the lawlessness was high
on the agenda when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived on
Wednesday in Puerto Vallarta for meetings with her local counterpart,
Patricia Espinosa. The Mexicans had sought the high-level visit to
press for greater coordination with the United States in their fight
against the heavily armed cartels, but the world economic crisis was
also discussed.

Ms. Rice's arrival was the latest in a series of visits this month
alone by top-level administration officials. Attorney General Michael
B. Mukasey met with his counterpart in Mexico City several weeks
back. Last week, John P. Walters, the director of the White House
Office of National Drug Control Policy, made the rounds of the Mexican capital.

The visits are indications of the Bush administration's desire to
lend a hand to President Felipe Calderon's government, which has made
fighting the traffickers the centerpiece of its agenda but has
nonetheless seen security around the country deteriorate.

"There is a great deal of stress and strain being placed on the
Calderon administration in Mexico, and we want to show our support,"
said a State Department official who was not authorized to speak
publicly on the matter.

On Wednesday, Mexican authorities were touting the arrest of Jesus
Zambada Garcia, a high-level trafficker from the powerful Sinaloa
Cartel, after a shootout with the police in Mexico City.

The Mexican government's fight against traffickers comes with
considerable risk, because cartel leaders have singled out for
assassination numerous law enforcement officials engaged in the
antidrug campaign. Mr. Calderon has said that he has received
numerous threats since he started his antidrug offensive upon taking
office nearly two years ago.

Even though the White House successfully pushed through Congress $400
million in aid for Mexico's antidrug effort, Mr. Calderon has
complained of the need for even more focused attention from the
United States. Not only is America the world's largest market for
illegal narcotics, but it also provides much of the weaponry used by
Mexican cartels.

The violence has directly affected American government facilities.
The American Consulate in Monterrey was attacked this month by a
gunman who fired several shots at the building and another man who
lofted a grenade, which did not detonate. Several days later, after a
visit to the building by the American ambassador to Mexico, Antonio
O. Garza, gunshots rang out nearby and the consulate was closed for the day.

In Ciudad Juarez, a border city that has experienced more than 1,000
killings this year as part of a raging battle among traffickers,
American officials recently reported a series of muggings near the
consulate there. Visa applicants visiting the building have been
warned not to use cash.

The American Embassy in Mexico City, meanwhile, upgraded its travel
alert in recent days for Americans visiting Mexico, warning that drug
cartels posed a significant danger, especially along the border.
"Firefights have taken place in many towns and cities across Mexico
but particularly in northern Mexico, including Tijuana, Chihuahua
City and Ciudad Juarez," the alert said. "The situation in northern
Mexico remains fluid; the location and timing of future armed
engagements cannot be predicted."

During his visit to Mexico last week, Mr. Walters heaped praise on
Mr. Calderon for his "courageous leadership" in taking on the
cartels. But he also expressed concern about the spillover effects of
the drug war on the United States.

"Some of these groups not only engage in crime and violence in
Mexico, but they come across, kidnap, murder, carry out
assassinations," he told reporters, noting that the intensity of the
violence was still much higher south of the border than north of it.

"Our goal is to reduce the period of suffering as rapidly as possible
by bringing these people to justice," he said. "That's what this is
all about on both sides of the border."

Mr. Walters, a vehement opponent of drug legalization, backed a
proposal by Mr. Calderon not to prosecute people caught carrying
relatively small amounts of illegal narcotics, including cocaine and
heroin. Under Mr. Calderon's plan, addicts would be treated
differently from traffickers and would avoid jail if they agreed to
undergo treatment, not unlike similar programs in some parts of the
United States. "I don't think that's legalization," Mr. Walters said.

Another proposal, put forward recently by a Mexico City lawmaker
belonging to an opposition party, would legalize the carrying of
small amounts of marijuana. That proposal has been roundly criticized
by Mexico's political establishment and is not expected to advance.