U.S. OFFICIALS: DRUG VIOLENCE TO CONTINUE

EL PASO -- Nearly 100 people attended a meeting on drug violence
Monday at the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce, but neither U.S.
Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, nor William J. McGlynn, a State
Department official invited to the event, could predict when the
violence will cease.

The discussion was peppered with concerns about the border's business
image, negative headlines and whether the Merida Initiative will be
enough to help Mexico make a dent in the powerful drug cartels.

"There was nothing said to convey any urgency about the matter," city
Rep. Beto O'Rourke said. "I was disappointed. There was nothing to
address the fundamental issue of the brutal cartel violence or the
demand-reduction side of the issue."

"I also disagreed with Congressman Reyes' comparing the situation
(twice) to the movie "Last Man Standing." The idea that we stand back
and let people duke it out is not showing leadership."

Reyes also said reports of drug-related kidnappings in El Paso were
"urban legends," prompting Patricia Quinonez, the president of a
Spanish-language radio station in El Paso, to disagree, saying she
knew such kidnap victims.

"They're not urban legends," Quinonez said. When she tried to ask a
second question, Reyes told her she had already used up one and called
on someone else.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it has received information,
some of it based on unconfirmed intelligence, of at least six
suspected kidnappings in El Paso and through El Paso between 2007 and
2008, a number Newsweek also reported.

Bob Cook, president of the El Paso Regional Economic Development
Corp., said he did not know of any new businesses that refused to come
to Juarez-El Paso because of the violence. However, he did not have
information about assembly plants that may have left Juarez because of
the violence.

McGlynn, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Bureau of
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs at the State
Department, showed up an hour later than originally scheduled. He said
he would travel to Mexico later Monday.

"President Felipe Calderon Hinojosa has made an unprecedented effort
to attack the cartels," McGlynn said. "Mexico has spent $3 billion on
the effort, and deployed virtually (its) entire armed forces. The
Merida Initiative is really their plan. The U.S. government can be a
strong partner for these efforts."

He said that in addition to carrying out major reforms of its police
and judicial systems, the Mexican government is going after
"high-value targets" like drug kingpins.

Reyes stressed that it was Mexico's president who asked the United
States for help, and that's why the U.S. government came up with the
Merida Initiative, a $1.4-billion package for Mexico and Central
America over three years.

He said the initiative does not involve cash, only in-kind help, such
as equipment, training and technical assistance. He said he could not
disclose what portion of it may be earmarked for U.S. border security.

Nearly 1,700 people have been killed in Juarez since January 2008. On
Monday, Thomason Hospital spokesman Jethro Armijo confirmed two
gunshot victims were brought to the hospital through the Fabens border
crossing.