Hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee - The Merida Initiative

Interview

Hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee - The Merida Initiative: Assessing Plans to Step Up Our Security Cooperation with Mexico and Central America

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REP. GREEN: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to ask unanimous consent that my statement be placed into the record.

REP. ENGEL: Without objection, so ordered.

REP. GREEN: Thank you for being here. And I know that a lot of the concern is because of the lack of consultation between the administrative branch and the legislative branch. And I have to admit, four weeks ago I was in Mexico visiting with members of the senate in the Chamber of Deputies and that was their complaint, although from what they told me, President Calderon has spent a lot more time with the -- their congress that President Bush has with ours. Be that as it may, I guess the worst part of it -- at least we don't have the president of Ecuador who's trying to abolish the congress. But oftentimes chief executives don't like to deal with members of Congress. But be that as it may, we'll fight that out with this administration and probably the next one and the next one after that.

But I think the package is important, and coming from an area -- and I follow my neighbor from northeast Harris County, Congressman Poe because I have a district that's an urban area in Houston -- but I also recognize the benefit of this and have watched Mexico for many decades and seen, since President Calderon was elected -- starting a little bit with President Fox, but particularly with President Calderon -- an effort to get control of their country again. And with the loss of life of police chiefs, of the military, of the police officers, and so that's why I was more than willing to visit with the members and learn from the members of congress in Mexico on their needs.

Some of the questions I have was that -- what role did our U.S. and Mexican and Central American law enforcement agencies play in the development of this package? Did we actually talk with the military and the law enforcement in Mexico and Central America along with our own law enforcement, particularly on the border, to develop this package and suggestions?

MR. JOHNSON: The United States government entities involved in law enforcement were fully part of the development of this program. They were brought in in their areas of expertise. It was particularly useful in terms of the equipment that was being proposed for this and doing everything we could to make sure that that equipment was appropriate and supportable.

I'm going to ask whether Mr. Shannon can address the question of consultations with our foreign counterparts.

MR. SHANNON: In terms of our consultations with Mexico and Central America, we did have extensive discussions -- especially in Mexico's case -- with public security officials, both on the police side and on the military side in -- (inaudible) -- especially the army and the navy, which are the two institutions that have interdiction responsibilities. So not only were we able to fashion I think broad interagency discussion among all the different law enforcement agencies, but we also did have contact with Mexican law enforcement officials.

Our contact with Central Americans have been largely through the ministries of public security and through the vice ministers of public security. Obviously our embassies have regular contact with law enforcement officials on the ground, and as we develop our discussion with Central America, we will extend that conversation.

REP. GREEN: Over the years, I've had the opportunity to go to a memorial service for DEA Agent Enrique Camarena, who was brutally murdered in Mexico. And I know this is mostly equipment -- going into personnel costs, I know there's 37 million (dollars) in the program for U.S. personnel costs. What is that envision -- that there will be U.S. agents in Mexico -- additional agents? Because I know there's a relationship that's sometimes pretty rocky.

MR. JOHNSON: Depending on the ultimate shape of the appropriation, we'll determine the numbers, but we anticipate that there will be continuing cooperation between the DEA and their counterparts in Mexico.

Most of the programs here envisaged are -- will not necessarily require additional DEA agents -- additional DEA personnel within Mexico because of the nature of the training program. There will be some from them, some operating from other government agencies and law enforcement, including ATF and Customs.

REP. GREEN: The last question -- Mr. Chairman, I know I'm almost out of time -- is what benchmarks has the administration set, and are they -- to evaluate the success of this program or the failure of it? Are there benchmarks that are public that the governor of Mexico and also the counterparts in Central America?

MR. JOHNSON: Well, I mean, the ultimate benchmark is going to be lowering the level of imports of narcotics and dangerous drugs into the United States, lowering the level of violence. Some of the things that you can count are the extraditions, which are up significantly over the course of the last year.

In terms of the program itself, the measures that we will be making are how quickly we are moving to implement the program, bringing these aircraft, bringing these training programs online.

The outcomes that I think that we're looking for is really a change on the ground in Mexico and the public security situation that people face there, as well as along our borders and with your constituents.

REP. GREEN: Mr. Chairman, thank you. And I know that in the last year there have been many more extraditions to the United States of these drug lords, and I would hope that would increase because of the -- that there's so much difference between our Department of Corrections in Texas and some of the prisons in Mexico. (Laughs.) So -- thank you.

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