US May Shift Focus Towards Strengthening Institutions in Mexico Alfredo Corchado - The Dallas Morning News
go to original November 17, 2013

Roberta Jacobson (AVN)

WASHINGTON — Future U.S. security cooperation with Mexico should be focused on strengthening judicial institutions and communities, the Obama administration’s top official on Latin America said in an interview.

Roberta Jacobson, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, said she expects that the Mexican government will use most of the U.S. funds available under the $1.9 billion Mérida Initiative this year to shore up security.

She applauded the recent arrest of key drug capos but expressed concern over a drop in extraditions to the U.S. and dismay over the early release, on a technicality, of drug trafficker Rafael Caro Quintero, calling it a “major problem.” The U.S. government has since offered a $5 million reward for his recapture.

Jacobson said U.S. officials are gradually adjusting to new strategies implemented by the Mexican Interior Ministry that, at least officially, prohibit agent-to-agent communications, something that has led many U.S. officials to question their counterparts’ commitment to building interagency trust and cooperation.

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