U.S. conditions threaten Mexico anti-drug package

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Mexico will tell the U.S. to keep its Merida Initiative money if the U.S. Congress insists on linking the proposed anti-drug aid package to a series of human rights and legal conditions, reports The Dallas Morning News.

Both houses of Congress have passed the package but have not agreed on a final version.

The Merida Initiative, which is proving controversial with lobbyists on the left and right, proposes to inject US $1.4 billion worth of aid into Mexico to help President FelipeCalderon fight the country’s increasingly violent drug trade and illegal arms smuggling. But opponents to the package argue that it will put more arms into the hands of a corrupt army and law enforcement system in Mexico.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City