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Mérida Initiative
The Mérida Initiative (named after Mérida, the city where it was agreed upon), also called Plan Mexico (in reference to Plan Colombia), was a security cooperation agreement among the United States, the government of Mexico, and the countries of Central America, that ran from 2007 to 2021. With the declared aim of combating the threats of drug trafficking, transnational organized crime and money laundering, assistance between the countries included training, equipment and intelligence.
In seeking partnership with the US, Mexican officials point out that the illicit drug trade is a shared problem in need of a shared solution and remark that most of the financing for the Mexican traffickers comes from American drug consumers. U.S. law enforcement officials estimate that US$12 to 15 billion per year flows from the United States to the Mexican traffickers and that is just in cash and excludes the money sent by wire transfers. Other government agencies, including the Government Accountability Office and the National Drug Intelligence Center, have estimated that Mexico's cartels earn upwards of $23 billion per year in illicit drug revenue from the United States.
U.S. State Department officials were aware that former Mexican President Felipe Calderón's willingness to work with the United States was unprecedented on issues of security, crime and drugs. The initiative was announced on 22 October 2007 and signed into law on June 30, 2008. As of March 2017, $1.6 billion of Mérida assistance had been delivered to Mexico, including 22 aircraft.
In 2008, Mexico remained a transit and not a cocaine production country. Marijuana and methamphetamine production did take place in Mexico and were responsible for an estimated 80% of the methamphetamine on the streets in the United States, while 1100 metric tons of marijuana were smuggled each year from Mexico.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Mexico was persuaded to be part of both Operation Intercept and Operation Condor, developed between 1975 and 1978, with the pretext to fight against the cultivation of opium and marijuana in the "Golden Triangle", particularly in Sinaloa. The operation, commanded by General José Hernández Toledo, was a flop with no major drug lord captures and many reports of abuse and repression in rural zones.
In 1990, just over half the cocaine imported into the U.S. came through Mexico. By 2007, that had risen to more than 90 percent, according to U.S. State Department estimates. Although violence between drug cartels has been occurring long before the war began, the government used its police forces in the 1990s and early 2000s with little effect. That changed on December 11, 2006, when newly elected President Felipe Calderón sent 6,500 federal troops to the state of Michoacán to put an end to drug violence there. This action is regarded as the first major retaliation made against cartel operations, and is generally viewed as the starting point of the war between the government and the drug cartels. As time progressed, Calderón continued to escalate his anti-drug campaign, in which there are now well over 25,000 troops involved.
It is estimated that during 2006, there were about 2,000 drug-related violent deaths, approximately 2,300 deaths during 2007 and more than 3,725 deaths during 2008. Many of the dead were gang members killed by rivals or by the government, however, some have been innocent bystanders. At least 450 police officers and soldiers have been killed since January 2007.
However, reporting of crimes in Mexico has historically been very low and inconsistent. In January 2012 the Mexican government updated its official count to 47,515 deaths since President Calderón began his military campaign against drug trafficking in 2006. Because crimes are seldom investigated there is no way of knowing if these deaths are attributed to organized crime, the police, or the cartels. Another report based on the Mexican census noted that 67,050 homicides had taken place in Mexico from 2007 to 2010 alone. Also, there was consistent resistance from the Mexican government to release new and accurate public records regarding the issue of homicides.
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Mérida Initiative
The Mérida Initiative (named after Mérida, the city where it was agreed upon), also called Plan Mexico (in reference to Plan Colombia), was a security cooperation agreement among the United States, the government of Mexico, and the countries of Central America, that ran from 2007 to 2021. With the declared aim of combating the threats of drug trafficking, transnational organized crime and money laundering, assistance between the countries included training, equipment and intelligence.
In seeking partnership with the US, Mexican officials point out that the illicit drug trade is a shared problem in need of a shared solution and remark that most of the financing for the Mexican traffickers comes from American drug consumers. U.S. law enforcement officials estimate that US$12 to 15 billion per year flows from the United States to the Mexican traffickers and that is just in cash and excludes the money sent by wire transfers. Other government agencies, including the Government Accountability Office and the National Drug Intelligence Center, have estimated that Mexico's cartels earn upwards of $23 billion per year in illicit drug revenue from the United States.
U.S. State Department officials were aware that former Mexican President Felipe Calderón's willingness to work with the United States was unprecedented on issues of security, crime and drugs. The initiative was announced on 22 October 2007 and signed into law on June 30, 2008. As of March 2017, $1.6 billion of Mérida assistance had been delivered to Mexico, including 22 aircraft.
In 2008, Mexico remained a transit and not a cocaine production country. Marijuana and methamphetamine production did take place in Mexico and were responsible for an estimated 80% of the methamphetamine on the streets in the United States, while 1100 metric tons of marijuana were smuggled each year from Mexico.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Mexico was persuaded to be part of both Operation Intercept and Operation Condor, developed between 1975 and 1978, with the pretext to fight against the cultivation of opium and marijuana in the "Golden Triangle", particularly in Sinaloa. The operation, commanded by General José Hernández Toledo, was a flop with no major drug lord captures and many reports of abuse and repression in rural zones.
In 1990, just over half the cocaine imported into the U.S. came through Mexico. By 2007, that had risen to more than 90 percent, according to U.S. State Department estimates. Although violence between drug cartels has been occurring long before the war began, the government used its police forces in the 1990s and early 2000s with little effect. That changed on December 11, 2006, when newly elected President Felipe Calderón sent 6,500 federal troops to the state of Michoacán to put an end to drug violence there. This action is regarded as the first major retaliation made against cartel operations, and is generally viewed as the starting point of the war between the government and the drug cartels. As time progressed, Calderón continued to escalate his anti-drug campaign, in which there are now well over 25,000 troops involved.
It is estimated that during 2006, there were about 2,000 drug-related violent deaths, approximately 2,300 deaths during 2007 and more than 3,725 deaths during 2008. Many of the dead were gang members killed by rivals or by the government, however, some have been innocent bystanders. At least 450 police officers and soldiers have been killed since January 2007.
However, reporting of crimes in Mexico has historically been very low and inconsistent. In January 2012 the Mexican government updated its official count to 47,515 deaths since President Calderón began his military campaign against drug trafficking in 2006. Because crimes are seldom investigated there is no way of knowing if these deaths are attributed to organized crime, the police, or the cartels. Another report based on the Mexican census noted that 67,050 homicides had taken place in Mexico from 2007 to 2010 alone. Also, there was consistent resistance from the Mexican government to release new and accurate public records regarding the issue of homicides.
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