Border lawmakers: Humanitarian aid just the start in fighting drug violence

Lawmakers from districts along the country’s southern border
say America’s recent push to increase developmental aid to Mexico is just the
beginning of what’s needed to effectively thwart the country’s increasing
levels of drug cartel violence.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton recently led a high-level
delegation to Mexico in which she outlined a renewed push by the U.S. to
bolster Mexico’s fight against the root causes of crime by backing more
education, healthcare, and drug prevention programs.

{mosads}Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), whose district sits
along the
U.S.-Mexico border and who is on the Homeland Security Committee, said
that
Clinton’s announcement was a good start but that the U.S. should also
look at providing young adults, who may be especially strapped for
money as the economy continues to roil, with jobs.

“I think we need it,” said Cuellar of humanitarian aid to
Mexico in an interview. “While the military plays a role, we’ve also got to
strengthen the civilian institutions like the prosecutorial and the judges part
of it, and the prisons, and then address how do we keep some of the young kids
from being pulled into the gangs.”

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), whose district spans several
hundred miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, also heralded the White House’s
renewed push for civic aid to battle crime in Mexico, but said that more would
be needed to fight the flow of guns from the U.S. over the border.

“The training and refortifying the Mexican law enforcement
effort helps, but also diverting some of that funding to healthcare and basic
necessities along the border is also a very smart move,” he told The Hill.

“Some have been saying that the [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
and Firearms] should get more resources to be able to carry out that fight
against controlling the flow of guns from here to there, and I hope that’s part
of that strategy,” he said. 

Clinton’s move comes after three people with ties to the
U.S. Consulate were shot dead earlier this month in a gang-style assassination in the city
of Juarez, which is a known hotspot for drug and gang activity.

The slayings added to the nearly 18,000 people who have been
killed since Mexican President Felipe Calderon took power in 2006 and began an
all-out war against drug cartels in his country.

Calderon has deployed 45,000 army soldiers to dangerous
cities and regions throughout Mexico – including 7,000 to Juarez, where more
than 4,500 people have been killed in the past two years — but Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said
earlier this month that the troops have not helped thwart the violence a great
deal.

Cuellar said that he plans to call for a committee hearing
when Congress returns from its spring recess in mid-April to take a close look
at what more the U.S. needs to be doing, such as increasing the speed with
which funds and supplies are delivered to the Mexican government.

“I’m all for accountability,” he said. “But there’s got to
be speed, too. The Mexican drug cartels are not waiting there and saying, ‘OK,
law enforcement guys, we’re going to wait until the Americans give you this or
that, so we can be more fair in our fight.’ They’re not waiting for us.”

The White House’s renewed push, as outlined by Clinton
earlier this month, is planning to focus its “long-term strategic vision” on disrupting
the cartels in both the U.S. and Mexico by promoting “social cohesion” in the
border region while combating factors that turn people to lives of crime,
through making humanitarian and civic services more available and reliable.

Clinton also called for cracking down on the financial backing
of the cartels by sharing intelligence and resources between the countries to
investigate and bust money laundering operations.

The plan pulls off of the $1.6 billion Merida initiative –
an aid package geared toward strengthening Mexican law enforcement and border
security.