U.S. - Mexico Relations in the Whack-a-mole Drug War: Hard Times South of the Border

 Hard Times South of the Border: "When they come together in Washington for a summit on Friday, it will have been more than a year since U.S. and Mexican officials reviewed progress and ongoing problems in the so-called Merida Initiative. The United States is giving Mexico $1.5 billion in security and economic assistance to combat violent drug cartels and root out corruption across the border.

And it comes as relations between the two countries are at a low point, punctuated by the resignation of the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Carlos Pascual. He announced in March he would step down after confidential cables made public by WikiLeaks have him labeling the Mexican government as risk-averse and saying official corruption is widespread.

No imminent replacement may endanger progress, says David Shirk, director of the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego. "The question now is whether Merida is headed in the right direction without a captain,” Shirk said. “It is unlikely, I think, that the United States will be able to appoint and get approval for a new ambassador in the near future. Frankly, it leaves Mexico with no one to talk to.”

“We lost our ambassador because he had the audacity to tell the truth,” said a U.S. government official who asked to not be identified. “I think that everyone here is very, very worried about Mexico and the power of the cartels and the extent to which they have now infiltrated most aspects of Mexican society.”"