this take us now to this cooperation in the framework of the merida initiative. the president caulderon signed a new structure, a new way forward and this is what roberta talked about and ambassador talked about. and we're focusing now in forming pillars and the first dismantling criminal organizations in both mexico and the united states. strengthening an institutional support. strengthening the justice reform in mexico, for example. we approve a justice reform in 2008, which has been implemented right now. it takes -- it takes a while to implement but it includes, for example, the oral hearings. we're going to -- this is very important because we're going from a system to another system. so the second pillar strengthens the justice sector reform. the third pillar, the 21st century borders -- it's very important. it's important for us to talk about what we are doing. and the last and one of the most important is the building resilient communities and the strong communities. as francisco mentioned we just got a reduction bilateral meeting just a few weeks back an

since that time, the merida initiative has gone forward. and i think -- i'm glad the state department is here because i'd like to hear from them. we just met with secretary napolitano this morning. and i asked her specifically about this issue as i was going to speak to this audience. and while i think there have been some successes, i think there's been some concern that the black hawk helicopters and the military hardware and equipment has been a little slow to get down to mexico to help in this effort. i know secretary napolitano feels the urgency in trying to get this problem fixed. i look forward to hearing from the state department in terms of what they're doing to move -- we passed in the last congress and the congress wants it to move as swiftly as possible so we can assist president calderon and mexico in what is a very serious -- as president calderon called it, a war. he said i'm in a war. against the drug cartels. and it is the number one priority, number one issue for him. and the economy is intertwined with that issue. know we

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as what we looked at what we achieved through the past few years through the merida initiatives bothountries are continuing to deepening the work on four key pillars. the first one is disrupting the operational capacity of organized crime. the second is institutionalizing mexico's capacity to sustain the rule of law and a very important component of this is police and judicial reform. the third one is how our two nations created a 21st century border not only in terms of infrastructure but of ensuring that we have a secure border and ensuring that customs officials on both sides of the border or police officers on both sides of the border are not corrupted by the influence of the drug syndicates and by drug money. and finally, one of the most important components of this strategy as we move forward building strong and resilient communities in both countries where we can bring down levels of demand, where we can enhance our ability to provide harm reduction and harm mitigation in both our societies and where we can make sure that demand reduction is playing a central role in this equa

pero insistiÓ que la iniciativa mÉrida entrÁ en otra face. >> es claro que el trÁfico de armas y el dinerode representantes de illinois aprobÓ reducir los dÍas de estudios. 4 dÍas. para recuperar las clases se considera reducir tambiÉn las vacaciones de verano. mÁs adelante tenemos las opiniones de los padres, educadores e hijos para ver este tema. vamos con despierta amÉrica y algo del pasado despuÉs de esto. (publicidad) [ mÚsica ] >> bueno, vamos con una reforma que yo tengo para el estado del tiempo. vamos a entrar ya en lo que es la primavera, vamos a comenzar por el Área de seatle. miren esas temperaturas, 61 grados. por acÁ por denver sÍ hubo nieve en el dÍa de ayer estuvieron con un poco de dificultades en las carreteras, siguen recibiendo heladas y nieve. pero todo va seguir mejorando en esta Área. pasemos por chicago, estÁ parcialmente soleado, mientras tanto como les digo en dallas tambiÉn estÁ con lluvias y nueva york con 56 en la mÁxima. para washington 66. y 73 grados en atlanta. y llegÓ el sol para miami! la florida 72. vamos a una pausa pero antes les dejamos con esta pregu

the merida initiative will expire at the end of this year. the war has not been won and the violence grows more disturbing each day. that is why congress and the administration must decide now how to implement the next phase of this partnership. in my conversations with law enforcement and state departments, three elements are critical in a new initiative. fighting the massive money laundering of funds out of the u.s., improving the forensic tech nothing available to mexican law -- tech none available to mexican law enforcement and helping mexico rebuild its institution. in money laundering, every year $8 billion to $10 billion are smuggled out of the u.s. by the drug cartels. even as our law enforcement agencies are improving their ability to stop these funds from leaving the country, the cartelers are finding novel ways to launder money. they are using money service businesses, online services and even legitimate retail businesses as fronts for their illegal transactions and they are also using massive bulk cash transfers. stopping the mone

the meeting was to expand and improve programs under what's called the merida initiative.t's a $1.4 billion multi-year aid program to fight drug crime. this includes also modernizing border crossings, better inspection of vehicles and people crossing the border, but one of the really main strategy expansions here is to do more on the social economic front, helping poor communities where instability is so bad that young people have fallen into crime. so when you talk about security it's not just the obvious security presence, but also the social and economic security that many mexicans have been lacking. one of the cities that's been a reference point as far as the mexican drug violence is juarez with more than 400 drug-related deaths there since january. >> okay. let's do this. ines, if you would, stay with us. we'll talk to nick, and i know you have questions for him as well. nick, let's take this on a microlevel to begin with here, and what is it like for the people of juarez? you mentioned, what? a million -- >> it's about 1.3 million, 1.4 million people. other than the

merida should not be a one-year or two-year event. it should be a relationship over time. >> is there a threat parts -- is there a threat for parts of mexico to be on governed areas where it can be more sophisticated for area terrorists to set up shop? >> [unintelligible] >> i do not want to suggest that the government of mexico is not competent at every level, but there is turmoil there. >> there is significant turmoil. local governments is significant in some places. both the attorney general and the senior military leaders and presidenhave enabled the presido push forces out there. >> thank you. general fraser, your comment on the flow of weapons and other items not from the united states but from other areas in the hemisphere -- >> a lot of the flow is headed toward columbia now. it is also headed toward central america. a lot of it is originated from central america, weapons sold there in the 1980's. we also see a flow coming out of the united states in that direction also. >> thank you. let me switch back. the cprne, the highly

state today is down in mexico city talking about how we can spend more money in mexico about the merida initiative, the $1 billion we gave mexico to secure the border on the other side. we should be talking about spending money on our side of the border to protect and reinforce the border on our side because sooner or later violence will erupt into the united states. and in guerrero, mexico, they're expecting a violent fight between these two drug cartels in any moment, any day fighting over this turf. you see, the zetas are running out of money and they need more money. the way that they'll finance their operation is to kidnap people, the plan apparently being from what i understand to kidnap teenagers who have wealthy parents and then hold them for ransom until that money is paid for. hopefully that doesn't occur but we will see whether it does or not. this is just one area along this vast border between mexico and the united states where violence continues to erupt and where we need to be in control of our own borders. you know, the texas governor asked for troops on the border. he's