U.S. REP. SILVESTRE REYES PROMOTES COOPERATION WITH MEXICO

EL PASO -- U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes met with Mexican President Felipe
Calderon on Friday morning to discuss drug violence and a $5 billion
port security plan aimed at curbing gun smuggling headed south from
the U.S.

Reyes, a Texas Democrat, led a congressional delegation with House
Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo., and House
Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman to Mexico City to
come up with ways the United States can cooperate with the
conflict-torn country's efforts to stop the drug violence.

A main point of the meeting was to illustrate to Calderon that the
U.S. would cooperate with Mexico, Reyes said. The U.S. has committed
$1.4 billion to Mexico and other Central American countries through a
plan called the Merida Initiative to fight drug trafficking and violence.

"I think some unprecedented things are starting to happen," Berman,
D-Calif., said at a news conference Friday afternoon in El Paso. "I
think the full impacts of this haven't been felt, but they soon will
be."

Among the major sticking points facing the two countries is the flow
of weapons -- particularly high-powered assault rifles -- headed from
the U.S. to Mexico. Reyes officials estimate that 95 percent of
firearms found in Mexico come from the U.S.

As a remedy, Reyes has proposed the Protect Our Resources Toward
Security, or PORTS, Act, which if passed will commit $5 billion over
five years and 5,000 Customs and Border Protection agents to conduct
more thorough southbound inspections.

The Reyes-led congressional delegation comes as drug-related violence
in Mexico has begun to attract national attention. Since January 2008,
more than 2,000 people have been killed in Juarez and more than 6,000
throughout Mexico in what investigators believe is mostly related to
drug violence.

"This is not an easy undertaking by any stretch of the imagination. I
think all of us know that," Reyes said. "But it's a fight worth having."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made a two-day visit to
Mexico earlier this week, in advance ofPresident Barack Obama's
scheduled stop in Mexico City on April 16.

Reyes, like Clinton earlier in the week, said that the U.S. bears much
responsibility for the burgeoning drug trade in Mexico because a large
market for illegal drugs has emerged north of the border.

"My personal take is that there are more opportunities for us to help
President Calderon," Reyes said. "We could easily double the amount of
money that so far we have committed under Plan Merida."