Seeking Solutions:

ENDING DRUG-WAR VIOLENCE MAY TAKE MORE LONG-TERM STEPS

EL PASO -- The perception that Washington, D.C., is not paying close
attention to the U.S.-Mexico border and the violence in Juarez is
unjust and unfair, but understandable, according to two national
experts who monitor U.S.-Mexico public policies.

The false perception probably evolves from the unrealistic expectation
that the U.S. and Mexico need to immediately end the violence that has
plagued Juarez for 27 months, said Agnes Schaefer, a political
scientist with Rand Corp., a national policy think tank.

She specializes in U.S. homeland security issues and recently wrote
the report "Security in Mexico, Implications for U.S. Policy Options,"
which was delivered to the U.S. Department of State.

People who are not intertwined with day-to-day developments in D.C.
cannot see that the U.S. is working to send billions of dollars to
Mexico to help solve its drug cartel problem, Schaefer said. They also
are not aware that Mexico remains a top priority for the Obama
administration. She said members of Congress are keenly aware of the
violence because the Mexican cartels operate throughout the U.S., not
just along the border.

"If you are going to solve the problem by rooting out corruption and
reforming institutions in Mexico, these are long-term endeavors, not
short-term, and that is what people want," Schaefer said. "The concern
is that right now officials on both sides of the border are under
extreme pressure to fix this problem today. That is not possible."

The pressure to find a solution to Juarez's violence escalated last
week after two U.S. citizens were ambushed for unknown reasons in El
Paso's sister city.

Lesley Enriquez Redelfs, who worked for the U.S. Consulate in Juarez,
and her husband, Arthur Redelfs, were shot to death on the afternoon
of March 13 as they were driving back to El Paso from a children's
party in Juarez. Arthur Redelfs worked for the El Paso County
Sheriff's Office.

The couple's funeral was Saturday.

A third person, Mexican citizen Jorge Alberto Ceniceros Salcido, who
also had ties to the U.S. Consulate, was killed at the same time in a
different part of Juarez. He had also just left the same
consulate-related party Enriquez and Redelfs had attended.

No arrests have been made in the case, and law enforcement officials
on both sides of the border say they still do not have a motive.

The killings quickly escalated into an international incident.
President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon condemned
the killings, as did U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The
homicides made national news.

That renewed national attention falsely led some to think that
Congress had forgotten about the violence in Mexico, Schaefer said.

"The violence might have gone off the public's radar and the media's
radar," Schaefer said, "but it has not left the policymaker's radar,
and this administration has said helping Mexico is one of the top
priorities."

To reinforce the United States' position on Mexico, Clinton announced
last week that she and several other Cabinet-level officials will
travel to Mexico on Tuesday to meet with Calderon. Among those joining
her will be Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, Secretary of
Homeland Security Janet A. Napolitano, Director of National
Intelligence Dennis Blair and Drug Enforcement Administration Acting
Administrator Michele M. Leonhart.

The White House also announced last week that in May, Calderon will
have an official visit with Obama at the White House. Among the topics
of discussion at their dinner will be the economy, immigration and the
security of both countries.

Those meetings, as well as the recent 14th Annual Border Issues
Conference in D.C., are aimed at gathering information that will be
used to shape the next phase of the Merida Initiative, which allows
the U.S. to give money to Mexico to help the country rid itself of the
cartels.

As part of the initiative, the U.S. sent $1.4 billion to Mexico and
other Central American countries to help them reform their legal and
judicial systems.

Congress is now working on the second phase of the initiative, which
calls for providing Mexico with up to $10 billion over three years.
Another bill working its way through Congress would provide $1 billion
to U.S. cities along the Mexican border. That money would be used to
help border cities such as El Paso improve the infrastructure at ports
of entry so commerce, trade and everyday commuters can cross the
border more quickly.

Part of the money in the second phase of the Merida Initiative would
be used to help Juarez and other Mexican cities along the U.S. border
implement the same improvements at ports to allow people and goods to
move across the border more quickly, but in a secure way.

Some of the money sent by the U.S. to Mexico will be used to help
Mexico reform its law enforcement agencies.

The current agreement between the United States and Mexico combats the
cartels in four ways. It is expected that the new phase of the Merida
Initiative, which may be renamed, will be built on the same framework.

This includes a main goal of decreasing the influence of cartels in
Mexico by decreasing drug use in Mexico and lessening the cartels'
abilities to corrupt the country's local, state and national leaders.
It also aims to address the drug demand in the United States, and to
build Mexico's institutional capacity by retraining the law
enforcement agencies, vetting the new officers and reforming the
judicial system.

In addition, it aims to transform cities along the U.S.-Mexico border
to allow for increased trade and commerce, while at the same time
helping tourists and everyday commuters travel between the countries
without compromising security.

"We are doing as much as we can within the parameters allowed
considering Mexico is a sovereign nation and assistance we provide has
to be requested by President Calderon," said U.S. Rep. Silvestre
Reyes, D-Texas.

Andrew Selee, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson
Center, said the command to help Mexico issued by Obama when he took
office in 2009 has not changed. Those who do not work in D.C. might
have forgotten that two years ago, Congress had more than 15 hearings
concerning Mexico and its violence.

The hearings have stopped, Selee said, but the work at agencies such
as the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security have
not. Selee recently spent several days in El Paso and Juarez as part
of his public policy research.

"The national attention is there and things are getting done to help
end the violence," Selee said. "People along the border might see
things differently than people in D.C., but a lot is being done to
help Mexico."

However, Selee also said that Capitol Hill officials need to realize
that what is happening in Juarez is worse than anything occurring
anywhere else in Mexico. And while the national policies being adopted
by the U.S. to help Mexico will stop the violence in the long run,
they do nothing for the immediate problem in Juarez.

"Juarez right now is in the emergency room, while the rest of Mexico
is on a regular hospital floor," he said. "Juarez needs three doctors
tending to it right now, working to keep the city alive, while the
rest of the country can be viewed as a patient who only needs
monitoring and a doctor's visit once every three days."

In the past 27 months, more than 4,700 people have been killed in
Juarez. It is estimated that more than 110,000 houses have been
abandoned, 75,000 people have lost their jobs and more than 10,000
businesses have closed.

"What's happening in Juarez does call for a different response," Selee
said.