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Good afternoon. My thanks to Chairman. Reyes
for the invitation to participate here today, and to Dr. Diana
Natalicio, President of the University of Texas at El Paso,
for organizing this useful conference every year. Border security
is an increasingly important part of our internal homeland
defense strategy, and a key topic in our broad dialogue with
Mexico. This conference is always a very useful forum to explore
where we are, where we hope to be, and how to get there. So
thanks from all of us at the U.S. Mission in Mexico for the
effort to pull this together, we appreciate it.
I am honored to be on a panel with so many distinguished
leaders in the U.S. federal law enforcement community. It
gives me the opportunity to thank you all publicly for the
excellent colleagues you have sent to the U.S. Embassy in
Mexico, and to our consulates in Mexico as well. I have had
the privilege of telling many a congressional delegation or
visiting dignitary that I believe we have the best law enforcement
team, bar none, in our Mission. Every day they work closely
with one another and with their Mexican counterparts, with
remarkable results. When I look for reasons to be optimistic
about the challenges we face ahead, the U.S. law enforcement
team working in our Mission is high on my list.
Our panel is focused on border contraband, but I would like
to start by reviewing how important legal border trade is
to both the United States and Mexico. There is a panel at
the end of the conference on trade issues, but I think they
should be discussed parallel with security. Also, since we
have the good fortune to be sitting in El Paso, here on the
border with one of North America’s foremost manufacturing
centers, Ciudad Juarez, I think it's important to highlight
the value of border commerce and border transit to the health
and vitality of our shared border communities, and to the
prosperity of both our countries.
To summarize briefly, Mexico is our third largest trading
partner. Companies from the United States and Mexico did over
$1 billion in business every day in 2007 -- and a large percentage
of that business crossed the border in trucks, railroad cars,
smaller vehicles, via air transport or through cross-border
services. Keep in mind as well that over the past 10 years,
90 percent of the tourists who visit Mexico have come from
the United States, many of whom cross that border every day.
In addition, 13 million Mexicans legally visit the United
States as tourists annually, contributing to the over one
million jobs created in the United States by tourism. Mexico
is our largest market for products such as beef, dairy, swine,
rice, turkey, apples, soymeal, sorghum and dry beans. Mexico
is also our second largest market for corn, pork, poultry
meats, soybeans, wheat and pears. Practically speaking, what
this looks like is long lines of trucks, refrigerated carriers
and other vehicles bringing products back and forth across
the border.
The 38 ports of entry between the U.S. and Mexico are vital
arteries for both our nations, through which flow the people
and products we both need to prosper. Unfortunately, along
the border there are competing arteries of illicit commerce,
vital to the survival of organized criminal networks seeking
to smuggle arms, people, cash, drugs, and other contraband
back and forth between our nations. Competing organizations
struggle for dominance of what they call plazas, geographic
bases from which they can launch contraband. This competition
leads them to corrupt local officials, kill competitors, assassinate
those who would enforce the law against them, and sow terror
among civilian authorities and ordinary citizens. President
Calderon and his national security team have mounted unprecedented
attacks against each of the main cartels and their various
franchise operations. In response cartels have lashed back
against federal forces in a brutal and heartless fashion.
It is hard to look for good news as the death toll mounts
higher, but the increase in violence could signal that the
government pressure is in fact impacting cartels and their
operations.
But Mexico, despite its historic counter-narcotics efforts,
police reforms, and judicial reforms, cannot assure success
alone. Neither can we. This recognition -- that we can only
succeed working together -- is the heart of the Merida Initiative,
passed by Congress and signed into effect by President Bush
on June 30 of this year. The Merida Initiative is frequently
-- and incorrectly -- viewed as an assistance program from
the U.S. to the region. But take a look at the role of organized
cartels in the U.S. and you understand that the U.S. is a
key partner in a regional effort of collaboration and cooperation.
First, as regional government leaders remind us frequently,
U.S. drug demand fuels the illegal narcotics trade. While
the U.S. has made great strides in reducing drug demand, more
remains to be done. As John Walters, Director of the Office
of National Drug Control Policy, said in July 2008, "We
also understand that shared responsibility means we have the
responsibility to reduce demand, consumption, and the dollars
that consumption gives to trafficking."
The fact is that the most coveted trafficker routes through
Central America and Mexico head straight towards the world's
largest market for illicit drugs. Over ninety percent of the
cocaine in the U.S. comes through Mexico, as does 80 percent
of methamphetamines and a significant percentage of marijuana.
Of the 41 consolidated priority organization targets pursued
by U.S. law enforcement, over one-third are Mexican organizations.
In addition, every year billions, and possibly tens of billions,
of dollars in bulk currency are smuggled out of the U.S. and
back into the region to fuel the next round of production.
And of course, cartels battle for territory, murder law enforcement
officials, and protect their valuable loads using high-caliber
weapons, many of which are purchased in the U.S.
As I said, Merida reflects the reality that none of the partners
-- Mexico, the United States or Central America -- can block
organized criminal networks alone. Each partner acknowledges
the threat these networks pose, and accelerates its efforts
to confront them. In the case of Mexico, in 2007 the government
spent $2.5 billion on security and law enforcement as it relates
to organized crime and counternarcotics, a 24 percent increase
over the previous year. Mexico has extradited more criminals
to the U.S. than ever before, and deported an even greater
number. This year Mexico has interdicted record amounts of
cocaine, methamphetamine precursors, and bulk cash -- all
this even before passage of Merida.
Our support under Merida builds capability, provides equipment,
and facilitates interoperability so we can work fast and lean,
both separately and together, to detect, apprehend and prosecute
members of these criminal cartels. The first tranche of Merida
funding recently passed divides its focus into three pillars.
The first, counternarcotics, counter-terrorism, and border
security, includes aspects of direct interest to this conference.
For example, there will be equipment and training to improve
Mexican interdiction, inspection and analytical capabilities,
some of which will be directed along our shared border. Improved
communication networks and information sharing should also
contribute to better coordination of border security operations
and responses. A portion of these funds will also go to help
Mexico begin to secure its porous southern border with Guatemala,
helping stop contraband before it gets close to us here in
El Paso.
Resources dedicated to the second pillar will enhance public
security and law enforcement, including modernization of police
and demand reduction. Last but by no means least, the third
pillar focuses on the critical need for institution building
and rule of law. Under this pillar we will support Mexico's
landmark decision to modernize its criminal justice system,
which in turn will ensure human rights protection and expand
oversight. Every dollar spent improving the capabilities and
cooperation with our neighbors to the south contributes to
improved security on our border, and should be seen as a wise
investment in our own security, as well as the region's.
Merida was initially envisioned as a three-part, $1.4 billion
program with Mexico, with additional support for Central America
and now, at Congress' initiative, Haiti and the Dominican
Republic. In the next two fiscal years, with Congressional
approval, we hope to build on these same three pillars I discussed
earlier. For those of us working in the U.S. Mission in Mexico,
we are already laying the logistical groundwork to be able
to surge our implementation to wisely use the resources Merida
offers, and to meet the urgent needs of our Mexican colleagues.
Mexico's continued commitment in the face of mounting violence,
and the United States' enhanced ability to partner in areas
of key interest – like sharing intelligence, enhancing databases
and information exchange, expanding cooperation on money laundering,
and impeding arms flows – all give new impetus to the Merida
Initiative team effort against organized criminal networks
that recognize no borders and respect no laws.
The Merida Initiative and the increasingly urgent fight against
narco-traffickers represent the most visible facet of our
joint efforts to combat contraband trade, but as I mentioned
at the top, this phenomenon is not limited to drugs. Contraband
also includes the smuggling of otherwise legitimate merchandise
to avoid paying tariffs, and trade in pirated and counterfeit
goods. These forms of contraband, just like narcotics, represent
direct threats to public safety, the rule of law, and the
open trading systems that underpin our mutual prosperity.
Fake pharmaceuticals, baby formula, and brake pads can cause
injury or death. Smuggling deprives the government of revenue
and creates opportunities for the corruption of border officials.
Piracy destroys economic incentives for creative industries.
And businesses and workers forced to compete with illegal
imports will likely oppose further trade liberalization, as
will many legislators dismayed by flagrant evasion of the
tariffs they have established.
We are tackling these forms of contraband under two tracks.
The first is enhanced cooperation among our enforcement agencies.
Last year, the Department of Homeland Security and Mexican
Customs signed a Bilateral Strategic Plan to build capacity
and cooperate in protecting our mutual border and enforcing
our trade laws. And under the Security and Prosperity Partnership,
U.S., Mexican, and Canadian officials are working together
to safeguard the entire North American continent from all
types of transnational crimes, including smuggling, trafficking
of drugs and persons, and piracy and counterfeiting. We are
making good progress both bilaterally under the Strategic
Plan and trilaterally under the SPP.
The second track is trade policy. The U.S. and Mexico are
justifiably recognized as global leaders in liberalizing international
trade flows. By eliminating tariffs on legal goods, whether
unilaterally, via NAFTA and our other FTAs, or by pushing
for a successful conclusion to the Doha round of WTO negotiations,
we shrink the contraband universe, allowing customs officials
to focus on shipments that genuinely threaten national security
or public safety.
In conclusion, let me summarize a few key points. Both countries
need to continue to work together to keep the border open
to the flow of legitimate goods, services, travelers, friends
and neighbors; and to keep the border closed to the international
(or cross-border) terrorists, gangsters, smugglers and the
trade in illicit narcotics and contra-band that cause harm
to the United States and Mexico. In a perfect world the U.S.
and Mexico would partner in creating and enforcing border
controls that allow legal travellers and licit commerce to
pass rapidly and efficiently, while effectively netting aliens,
weapons, drugs, cash, pirated goods and other contraband.
I believe Merida and our other cooperative efforts have helped
the U.S. and Mexico define that common goal and accept our
respective responsibilities -- in Mexico's case to more directly
confront internal corruption and the criminal organizations
dedicated to trafficking narcotics and other forms of contraband,
which they have done with dramatic results so far; and in
the U.S. case with even greater attention to demand reduction,
capacity building, money laundering flows, and arms trafficking.
The Congress, thanks in large part to Chairman Reyes’ leadership
on the issue, recognized this historic opportunity and has
provided the precious and needed resources so the U.S. can
facilitate procurement of equipment and provision of training
that can help Mexico move forward on security measures, including
along the border, in a way that matches our own practices
and processes.
Just as the North American Free Trade Agreement radically
redefined our partnership with Canada and Mexico on the trade
front, the Merida Initiative marks just as important a realignment
on security and law enforcement cooperation, which we see
being reflected not just in the fight against drugs, but all
forms of illegal trade. Speaking personally, it is a remarkable
privilege to be participating in an historic step forward
in our bilateral relationship in a way that will directly
benefit domestic law enforcement, our continuing economic
vitality, and communities and interests on both sides of the
border.
Thank you again for this opportunity.
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