Secretary Clinton's Remarks on U.S-Mexico Security Cooperation
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has spent the past two days in Mexico at the invitation of Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa. After her meeting with Foreign Minister Espinosa and President Felipe Calderón yesterday, Secretary Clinton attended a press conference with the Foreign Minister. Below are excerpts from Secretary Clinton's remarks at the press conference that cover the recently announced U.S.-Mexico Border Security Policy (see our previous blog post on the new policy). You can read the full transcript of both Secretary Clinton's and Foreign Minister Espinosa's remarks here.
Part of being a good partner is being a good listener. The Mexican Government made clear to us its urgent need for additional helicopters to take on the drug traffickers, and we are responding. And I am pleased to announce that the Obama Administration, working closely with Congress, intends to provide more than $80 million in urgently needed funding for Blackhawk helicopters for Mexican law enforcement. These aircraft will help Mexican police respond aggressively and successfully to the threats coming from the cartels. We are also announcing the creation of a new bilateral implementation office here in Mexico, where Mexican and U.S. officials will work together, side-by-side, to fight the drug traffickers and the violence which they spread. We realize that drug trafficking is a shared problem. I have discussed with the Secretary and with the President what the United States can do to reduce the demand for drugs in our own country, and to stop the flow of illegal guns across our border to Mexico. And I reported to them on the major steps that our government announced yesterday. Coming to Mexico soon will be Secretary Napolitano and Attorney General Holder to discuss in greater detail what we will do to reduce gun smuggling from the United States to Mexico, and other measures including equipment and surveillance that will help address violence on both sides of the border. We are confident that with the courageous efforts undertaken by President Calderon, the Government of Mexico, the military and police of Mexico, and the people of Mexico that the efforts undertaken to strengthen this country’s response, to stamp out corruption, to build strong intuitions, will succeed. And we will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you as you undertake all of these actions. .... We have made a commitment to assist the Government of Mexico in its struggle against the drug traffickers, and we have accepted that this is a co-responsibility. We know very well that the drug traffickers are motivated by the demand for illegal drugs in the United States, that they are armed by the transport of weapons from the United States to Mexico; and therefore, we see this as a responsibility to assist the Mexican Government and the Mexican people in defeating an enemy that is committing violence and disruption that is very harmful and which is something that all people of conscience should attempt to defeat. What the President said is a shorthand for our commitment. We have not made any decisions, as was announced yesterday on National Guard along the border. We are working to provide more support for the Mexican military, the Mexican police, as well as other governmental institutions, and we will be guided by what the Mexican Government believes is working, what is appropriate, and how best we can proceed to support Mexico. We believe that we have announced a plan to use every tool at our current disposal through administrative actions to track illegal guns, to arrest and punish those who are trafficking in illegal guns, to share more information with the Mexican Government so that they can also track and seize these guns. Obviously, I am someone who supported the assault weapons ban which was passed in 1994, but it was passed with an expiration date and it expired ten years later. I, as a senator, supported measures to try to reinstate it. Politically, that is a very big hurdle in our Congress. But there may be some approaches that could be acceptable, and we are exploring those. Certainly, the export of assault weapons and illegal weapons is something that has grave consequences for Mexico. And we’re going to look at whatever is possible that we can do ourselves within the Administration, and we will explore with Congress other steps to take.