U.S. Aid to Mexico Lags as Drug Violence Rages, Hurts Growth
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The U.S. government has delivered only about 9 percent of the $1.6 billion in drug-war aid promised to Mexico and Central America under a 2008 accord as violence across the border reaches an all-time high.
U.S. agencies were forced to delay delivering training and equipment included in the Merida Initiative because they lacked staff and funding, the U.S. Government Accountability Office determined in a report, a draft of which was provided by the office of Congressman Eliot Engel, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. The GAO will present the report in testimony before Congress tomorrow.