AMBASSADOR: DEA AGENTS NOT EMBEDDED IN ANTI-DRUG UNITS
IN JUAREZ

EL PASO -- The U.S. Embassy in Mexico denied news reports that the
U.S. government is embedding agents in Mexican anti-drug units in Juarez.

Embassy officials said cooperation between both countries was limited
to equipment, training and sharing of law enforcement
intelligence.

Carlos Pascual, U.S. ambassador to Mexico, on Wednesday denied
information published by The Washington Post that U.S. agents would
work from a Mexican command center to catch drug cartel leaders and
hit men in the deadliest city in Mexico.

Officials said Pascual spoke at a meeting with officials from both
countries in Washington, D.C.

A meeting between U.S. and Mexican officials in El Paso this week will
unveil more details about measures in Juarez undertaken by both
countries to fight organized crime, said embassy officials who did not
want to be named.

At the meeting, they will discuss more law-enforcement efforts under
the U.S.-backed Merida Initiative, a $1.4 billion aid package to
Mexico. President Barack Obama is seeking $410 million more in his
2011 budget for Mexico's fight against drug trafficking.

The El Paso Times reported in 2008 that Drug Enforcement
Administration agents began working with the Mexican military and
federal police in Juarez to battle drug cartels.

DEA officials in El Paso did not want to comment on the cooperation on
Wednesday.

The DEA has had agents in Juarez, Mexico City and other cities in
Mexico for decades, and when Mexican President Felipe Calderon began
cracking down on the cartels, the U.S. government began sharing
intelligence and training Mexican military.

The cooperation between Mexican and the U.S. law-enforcement agencies
has recently been placed at center stage by officials in both countries.

Last week, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and
Mexican Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna reached an
agreement to expand a pilot program in which the Border Patrol works
with the Mexican federal police in both countries to combat drug and
human trafficking.

Calderon blames the rivalry between the Sinaloa drug cartel of Joaquin
"Chapo" Guzman and the Juarez cartel for more than 4,600 deaths in
Juarez.

Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz had a private meeting with U.S. State
Department officials on Wednesday. He requested $14 million under the
Merida Initiative to buy communication technology for local police to
avoid interception.