Buzzby

Mexico Angered By U.S. Criticism of Drug War
Alistair Bell | AlterNet | 01/27/2005

MEXICO CITY, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Mexico warned the United States not to interfere in its affairs on Thursday in a fight over drug wars on their sensitive border where Washington seeks close cooperation against terror.

Interior Minister Santiago Creel rebuked U.S. criticism that Mexico is struggling to win what it calls "the mother of all battles" against drug cartels.

He said the fight against organized crime on Mexican soil was a matter only for President Vicente Fox's government, which launched an assault last week against gangs taking orders from jailed drug lords.

"Here, Mexicans are in charge. We have friendly and neighborly relations and we are partners in a free trade agreement but that's it," Creel told the Televisa television network.

Mexico was angered by a letter from the U.S. ambassador on Wednesday that accused Mexican police of failing to halt violent crime on the U.S. border.

That was compounded by a State Department travel alert warning Americans of increased murders and kidnappings in Mexican border cities.

The economies of Mexico and the United States have become closely linked since the North American Free Trade Agreement came into force in 1994.

But Mexico, which lost half of its territory to the United States in a 19th-century war, is still sensitive to anything it suspects is U.S. interference in domestic matters.

Border Security

U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza said in his letter to Mexican government leaders that Mexican security forces were failing to control crime in the violent border area.

"I worry that the inability of local law enforcement to come to grips with rising drug warfare, kidnappings and random street violence will have a chilling effect on the cross-border exchange, tourism and commerce so vital to the region's prosperity,"

In Nuevo Laredo, a key trade hub south of Laredo, Texas, more than 20 U.S. citizens have been abducted or simply disappeared in recent months, in a wave of kidnappings linked by investigators to marauding drug gangs.

Relations between the two countries cooled when Fox refused to back the Iraq war, but Mexico hopes President George W. Bush can push an immigration plan through Congress that would give temporary work permits to millions of undocumented Mexicans.

U.S. officials have frequently praised Fox's government for tightening the border since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

Analysts said the disagreement over drug wars was unlikely to affect Mexican cooperation on security as a closure of the border after any terrorist attack would badly damage the Mexican economy, reliant on exports northward.

"At the end of the day, Mexico can't afford to have an incident perpetrated in the United States by someone who entered through Mexico," said Armand B. Peschard-Sverdrup of the CSIS think tank in Washington.

Fox's office said in a statement Mexico "does not accept the judgment or labeling of any foreign government" about its fight against drugs and Creel accused the United States of doing too little against drugs on its side of the border.

"I wish there were more drug capos in U.S. jails, and that (the United States) would deal with the problem of consumption which is causing drug trafficking," he said.

In Tijuana, a gritty border city of tequila bars and massage parlors, U.S. visitors were unconcerned on Thursday about the threat of violence.

"It's important that our government keeps us informed of the possible problems we could have in Mexico, but we figure that if we don't leave the tourist areas we won't have any," said Greg Tuszynski, 47, from Detroit, visiting with his wife.

More than 20 people have been shot to death in drug gang warfare in Tijuana this month, including two top policemen.

(Additional reporting by Aline Corpus in Tijuana)

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