Mexican drug cartels' annual take in the US estimated at $23 billion
GAO report cites poor cooperation between 2 nations
MEXICO CITY - Mexican drug cartels now operate in almost every region of the United States and bring in as much as $23 billion a year in revenue, according to a Government Accountability Office report.
US assistance has helped Mexico combat cartels, the report says, but those efforts have been hampered by Mexican government corruption and by the failure of key players in the United States, including the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, to coordinate better with Mexican law enforcement.
The White House drug policy office, the report says, has prepared a counternarcotics plan but has not discussed portions of the initiative that require Mexican cooperation with authorities in Mexico.
"The Office of National Drug Control Policy has to stop dropping the ball and doing sloppy work," Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, who requested the report, said in an e-mail Wednesday. "They had plenty of time to forge a working relationship with the Mexican government, but it appears that nothing has been accomplished."
The agency, Grassley added, "needs to realize that we're in this fight together, and it's foolish to think we can implement an effective plan to stop the flow of drugs from Mexico on our own."
Patrick Ward, assistant deputy director of the White House drug office, said in an interview Wednesday that his office has had extensive contact with Mexican authorities about counternarcotics plans since the GAO conducted its probe.
"Our cooperation with the Mexican government, especially in the last eight to 10 months since President [Felipe] Calderon took office, has been absolutely phenomenal," Ward said.
The report, an advance copy of which was obtained by the
The share of cocaine arriving in the United States through Mexico, for instance, leapt from 66 percent in 2000 to 90 percent in 2005. Other transshipment points include Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Central America.
Combined, Mexican drug cartels generate more revenue than at least 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies.
Congressional aides said the report may lead to increased cooperation between the two countries and give more impetus to already well-advanced talks aimed at developing a massive US aid package to fight drug trafficking in Mexico.
The report paints a troubling picture of bureaucratic tangles that impede drug control efforts: Operation Halcon, a successful, helicopter-based border surveillance program, was canceled in November 2006 because the United States and Mexico could not resolve accident liability issues.
Even as drug production soars in Mexico, "a relatively small percentage of the estimated supply" of drugs is seized, the report says. Marijuana production, for instance, rose sharply from 7,000 metric tons in 2000 to 13,500 in 2003, before leveling off at about 10,000 metric tons in 2004 and 2005. But seizures changed little during that period.
GAO investigators also saw positive signs.
They praised Mexico for extraditing a record number of drug suspects to the United States in 2006 and said President Calderon, in office since December, has demonstrated "a new level of commitment to combating drug traffickers."
The report praises Calderon for deploying 27,000 troops and police officers to fight cartels in eight Mexican states and for persuading his country's Congress to approve a 24 percent increase in the national security budget.
