U.S. gives Mexico anti-drug funds

On Wednesday U.S. officials released the first portion of a multimillion counternarcotics package destined for Mexico.

U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza formally released $197 million of the $400 million Merida Initiative at a signing ceremony in Mexico City. Most of money in that first part of the deal will be used as "military cooperation and economic support funds" according to Garza.

Congress passed the funds for the Merida Initiative several months ago after legislators placed human rights conditions to the package. The conditions were designed to ensure that funds would be used properly though some Mexican officials at the time were none too pleased.

It remains to be seen if the Merida Initiative will make a significant dent into Mexico’s rampant violence. The situation has gotten so out of hand that some Mexicans are calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty:

The initiative from Humberto Moreira, governor of the northern border state of Coahuila, would allow the death penalty for convicted kidnappers who killed or mutilated their victims. He said as far as the people of his state were concerned, the only issue was how to execute convicts, not whether to do so.

It is highly unlikely, if not impossible, that the death penalty could be reinstated because of legal obstacles, experts said. But that is almost beside the point. Moreira has tapped into public panic over soaring crime, a climate of fear that has made law and order the country's No. 1 worry.

Image- BBC News
Sources- The Latin Americanist, AP, AFP, Reuters, Los Angeles Times