Hillary Clinton´s Visit to Mexico... Press Conference..

The most important aspect of the press conference was the extremely conciliatory tone and Secretary Clinton´s admission of U.S. responsibility for the violence affecting Mexico. The Secretary spoke about the importance of the U.S. controlling its drug consumption and arms trafficking and when asked if there were parts of Mexico that the government did not control she said she did not believe that was the case. In fact Clinton compared the Mexican situation to the United States 15 or 20 years ago, when there was a spike in violence and crime and many Americans felt unsafe to walk around their own cities. She said that was why it was important to support Mexico to train its police and strengthen its ability to combat organized crime.

One interesting remark -- Secretary Espinosa was asked if there was any place in Mexico that she wouldn´t take Secretary Clinton and she said of course! She went on to say that she knows there are places in the United States that Secretary Clinton would certainly not take her… No announcement of the next ambassador yet, but in the press conference they did announce the creation of a bilateral implementation office to implement the Merida Initiative to combat drug trafficking and international crime.

Clinton also recognized the importance of helicopters to the fight against drug trafficking and announced the US would provide more money for law enforcement . She did not say how much more would be provided. Clinton also recognized that the ability to purchase and deliver these helicopters is very slow. She said that $8 million more would be requested for Black Hawk helicopters. (She didn´t say how many Black Hawks that would buy – perhaps three?)

In general the press conference was a lovefest.