BUSH WANTS $1.4 BILLION FOR MEXICO DRUG WAR

It Would Be The Largest U.S. Aid Package To Latin America Since 2000

MEXICO CITY -- The White House announced Monday a $1.4-billion
military and security package to assist Mexico and several Central
American countries in their fight against drug-trafficking groups
threatening the region's democracies.

President Bush requested an initial $550-million appropriation from
Congress, with the rest of the funds to be distributed over one or
two years. The aid is to go for helicopters, police training and
communications and data-processing equipment.

The package "delivers vital assistance for our partners in Mexico and
Central America, who are working to break up drug cartels and fight
organized crime," Bush said. "All of these are urgent priorities of
the United States, and the Congress should fund them without delay."

In Mexico, Guatemala and other countries in the region, drug
traffickers have infiltrated police agencies, killed scores of public
officials and journalists, and gunned down or decapitated rivals. The
terror they sow has silenced the media in several Mexican cities and
towns along the border with the U.S.

The initial request includes $500 million for Mexico and an
additional $50 million for six Central American countries. The aid
would mark a tenfold increase in the annual drug assistance now
provided to Mexico.

The plan came after months of negotiations between U.S. and Mexican
officials. Mexican diplomats had said that Bush and Mexican President
Felipe Calderon would announce the plan at a joint appearance. But in
the end, Bush made the official announcement at a Washington news conference.

Mexican officials appeared caught off guard by the Washington news.
Just an hour before the Bush news conference, Mexico's Foreign
Ministry said it would have no announcement Monday on the proposed aid package.

"The Mexican state must confront organized crime groups that have
enormous resources and highly sophisticated weapons," Foreign
Minister Patricia Espinosa said at a news conference. "Given the
dimensions of the problem, cooperation with the government of the
United States is indispensable."

Democrats on Capitol Hill complained that the Bush administration
drafted the proposal without consulting Congress.

"With 'Plan Mexico,' the devil will be in the details, and to this
point, details are scarce," Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said in a
statement. "Dropping a $1.4-billion plan on our doorstep without much
forewarning makes it harder to build a consensus and develop sound policy."

More than 3,000 people have been killed in Mexico's drug wars since
January 2006. And drug traffickers are said to be trying to influence
next month's presidential election in Guatemala: They are believed to
have killed several dozen party officials and candidates in the last year.

Officials called the plan "the Merida Initiative," after the Mexican
city where Bush and Calderon met in March to discuss security and
other issues. But the Mexican media long ago dubbed the aid package
"Plan Mexico," a reference to Plan Colombia, the 2000 initiative
under which U.S. taxpayers have spent billions to assist Colombia in
battling its drug cartels.

Indeed, the proposal calls for the largest aid package to Latin
America since Plan Colombia. But Mexican officials stress that,
unlike that plan, this one will involve no U.S. military personnel on
the recipient's soil.

"This is not a Plan Colombia," Espinosa said in a recent interview
with The Times. "There has been agreement with the Americans in a
framework of cooperation with Mexico that does not include military troops."

Plan Colombia has strengthened that country's judicial and police
institutions, but has done little to stop the flow of cocaine north.
Mexico and Central America are way stations in the shipment of
cocaine to the United States: U.S. officials estimate drug
traffickers transfer $8 billion to $24 billion in profits from the
U.S. to Mexico annually.

Bush announced the new plan as part of his supplemental funding
request for military spending in Iraq and Afghanistan for the 2008
fiscal year. Details will be included in the appropriations requests
likely to be submitted this week.

Administration officials said the centerpiece of the aid package
would be training Mexico's police forces. Mexican diplomats said
negotiations dragged on for months because representatives from a
dozen police, military and drug enforcement agencies on both sides of
the border were involved in drafting the details.

Jorge Chabat, a Mexico City security analyst, said the aid would mark
a dramatic change in the quantity of counter-narcotics aid to Mexico.

"Obviously, it doesn't solve the drug problem, but with this help the
Mexican government will probably be more effective in fighting the
traffickers," he said. "But if Mexico doesn't do much more than
accept the money, the help won't be effective. Basically, the big
problem here is corruption."

Chabat said the U.S. had long resisted major aid to Mexico because of
fears the money would be channeled to police and officials with ties
to the drug trade.

"If the U.S. government is willing to give this much money, it
suggests they have confidence that Calderon's government will
eventually be successful in controlling corruption," he said.

Calderon has made the drug war a signature element of his presidency,
sending army troops into several Mexican states and extraditing top
cartel operatives to face trial in the U.S

Human rights groups expressed skepticism about the initiative's
ability to address issues at the core of the drug trade: high demand
for illicit drugs in the U.S., and poverty in Mexico and other countries.

"We need to be clear that while this package may have a positive
short-term impact on drug trafficking and violence in Mexico, there
should be no expectations that it will stem the flow of drugs into
the United States," said Maureen Meyer of the Washington Office on
Latin America.