Mexico Under Siege

U.S. DRUG CZAR JOHN WALTERS REASSURES, SOUNDS ALARM ON MEXICO DRUG VIOLENCE

In Mexico City, He Tells Officials That Aid to Fight Drug Gangs Is
Coming and Voices Concern About Violence Spilling Over the Border.
Meanwhile, More Than 20 Die in the Latest Toll in Mexico's Drug War.

MEXICO CITY -- Amid another round of violence that claimed more than
20 lives, a top U.S. drug official Friday sounded an alarm over the
number of killings and kidnappings that spill into the southern United
States from Mexico.

Mexican authorities and reports from around the country said at least
23 people were killed late Thursday and on Friday, including three
police officers who died in a gun battle in the state of Jalisco. In
the border state of Chihuahua, six men were lined up against a wall at
a gymnasium and shot to death.

U.S. drug czar John P. Walters, in Mexico City to reassure officials
that aid to fight drug gangs is in the pipeline, said traffickers
resort to "fear and horror" in their campaign to take over government
institutions but will ultimately fail.

"It's not just about drugs," Walters told a news conference. "It's
about kidnapping and murder. It's about extortion . . . and suborning
government officials."

Although Mexican society suffers the brunt of the violence, Walters
said, drug gangs and their hit men cross the border with relative ease
to settle scores and carry out slayings in the U.S.

"These groups do not respect the border," said Walters, who is head of
the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

More than 3,500 people have been killed in Mexico in warfare that has
raged since President Felipe Calderon began deploying 40,000 army
troops nearly two years ago to crack down on the most powerful drug
networks.

Despite the intensifying bloodshed, Walters praised Calderon's
efforts.

Ultimately, he said, the drug lords will face a stark choice: "They
surrender, or they die."

Walters reiterated Washington's intention to begin releasing parts of
a $400-million package of aid and training under the so-called Merida
Initiative approved by Congress in June. In addition to countering the
violence, the package targets money laundering and gun smuggling,
illicit activities sustaining the largest cartels.