The government is complaining that only 60 percent of the Merida Initiative aid, promised three years ago by the US government, have been provided. Mexico wants more surveillance equipment and helicopters.Security forces killed 11 members of the La Familia drug cartel in a firefight at a ranch in Jalisco state (western Mexico), and arrested another 36 after the raid.
A U.S. government spokesman, responding to the Mexican complaint, acknowledged that by 2012 only 75 percent of the aid will have been disbursed.
As of April 2011, only three Blackhawk helicopters and eight observation helicopters had been provided via the Merida Initiative. Mexico has been promised another six Blackhawks as well as maritime surveillance aircraft.
The Mexican government has increased defense spending by almost 25 percent since the Cartel War began in December 2006. However, that is still only some $4.9 billion a year, or slightly less than 0.5 percent of Mexico’s 2010 GDP. Critics in the U.S. contend that Mexico needs to up its defense spending to around one percent of GDP if it is going to defeat the drug cartels.
There is another aspect to the spending issue that is often lost. It isn’t simply increasing the number of soldiers, buying more helicopters and trucks (ie, increasing mobility) and improving intelligence and surveillance. Increasing the pay of soldiers and national policemen reduces the threat of corruption.
Security forces killed 11 members of the La Familia drug cartel in a firefight at a ranch in Jalisco state (western Mexico), and arrested another 36 after the raid.
The gang members at the ranch intended to launch an attack on another drug cartel group in the region, the so-called Knights Templar cartel (yes, that’s the organization’s name, you can’t make this stuff up).
The Knights Templar are described as a breakaway faction from La Familia. The police believe La Familia was involved in the recent shoot-down of a Mexican helicopter.
