by the El Reportero’s news services
Felipe Calderón
Mexico’s President, Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, opens his two day trip to Washington today (March 2). The trip is awkwardly timed. The Libyan crisis means that President Calderón is unlikely to get the attention Mexico’s continuing problems warrant, though he does have a meeting scheduled with President Barack Obama for tomorrow (March 3).
Mexico’s longstanding problem of gang violence has been compounded by the killing in Mexico, on Feb. 15, of a U.S. government official, Jaime Zapata, a special agent with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Republican congressmen are campaigning to force Mexico to extradite the Mexican suspects to face trial in the US. Such a move could mean Mexico sending its citizens to face the US death penalty. Under a 1980 treaty, Mexico has the right to refuse to extradite a suspect unless the US provides assurances that the death penalty will not be imposed.
Mexico riled as its violence is again labelled an ‘insurgency’
Once again, a prominent U.S. offi cial has raised hackles in Mexico by comparing the drug-cartel violence there with an insurgency and, to boot, by hinting that the US might have to send troops across the border. There have been half-apologies for political and diplomatic reasons, but what is clear is that US offi cialdom is very alarmed at the prospect of the violence spreading into their own territory, and even President Felipe Calderón has gone on the record about the political dimension of drug-cartel violence.
