Vice President Biden Mexico, Biden to meet with Mexico's president. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was set to meet with Mexico's president Monday as part of a two-day visit to the region.
The leaders will discuss priorities the countries share, Mexico's foreign ministry said in a statement.
Biden's visit comes a week after U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano met with Mexico's interior minister in the nation's capital and told reporters that the drug war there "is not a failure," and that it was only a matter of time before the leader of Mexico's powerful criminal organization falls.
"It took us 10 years to find Osama bin Laden and we found him," Napolitano said. "And you know what happened there. I'm not suggesting the same thing would happen with (alleged Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo") Guzman, but I am suggesting that we are persistent when it comes to wrongdoers and those who do harm in both of our countries."
The United States admits its drug market plays a role in fueling violence in Mexico, and has pledged $1.4 billion in assistance through the so-called Merida Initiative, which includes programs to help train Mexican military, police and justice officials.
Tourism and trade ties also bind the neighboring nations.
Last month, Mexican President Felipe Calderon called on U.S. officials to stop gun trafficking across the border, saying the move would be the best thing Americans could do to stop brutal drug violence.
"One of the main factors that allows criminals to strengthen themselves is the unlimited access to high-powered weapons, which are sold freely, and also indiscriminately, in the United States of America," Calderon said, standing in front of a Mexican government-sponsored, English-language sign in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, that said "NO MORE WEAPONS."
Biden was also scheduled to meet Monday with the three candidates vying to succeed Calderon in presidential elections this year.
Violence and the drug war are expected to be key issues when Mexican voters head to polls in July.
More than 47,000 people have died in drug-related violence across Mexico since Calderon announced a crackdown on cartels in December 2006, according to government statistics.
On Tuesday, Biden is scheduled to travel to Honduras to meet with President Porfirio Lobo and other Central American leaders.
Honduras has the world's highest murder rate, with 82.1 murders per 100,000 inhabitants in 2010, according to the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime.
Last year, Lobo told CNN en Español that drug use in the United States was a key cause of violence in his country and throughout the region.
"We know what the causes are. We have there in the north a country that consumes drugs, and we are the transit countries. ... None of these problems is exclusive to Honduras," he said.
Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/05/world/americas/mexico-biden-visit/index.html