WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: CNN's Mexico bureau chief Harris Whitbeck reports on Mexico's attempt to control the drug trade.</s>HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mexico's attorney general and the minister of the interior traveled to what has become ground zero in the war against illegal drug trafficking to announce an intensification of government efforts against traffickers. U.S. drug enforcement officials say more than half of all illegal drugs entering the United States pass through Mexico, through border states like Tijuana, capital of the state of Baja, California. Close to $80 million will be spent in the two of the main border areas considered to be drug-trafficking corridors. The announcement of stepped-up efforts against trafficking came as the U.S. Congress debated whether to certify Mexico's anti-drug efforts. Some analyst say the increased enforcement is more a reaction to Washington than a reaction to the drug running.</s>JORGE CHABAT, POLITICAL ANALYST: If Mexico shows a very decent amount of efforts to fight drugs, a very combined effort to fight drugs, well, certification will be granted because Mexico is very important to the United States.</s>WHITBECK: But whether sincere or not, the renewed government effort to try to control drug trafficking comes on the heels of some vicious drug violence. In the latest in a string of apparent drug- related killings, Tijuana's police chief was gunned down last Sunday. But Mexican experts on drug trafficking say the new government crackdown ins not as proactive as it could be. "I've seen no indications," he says, "that Mexico is trying to formulate a coherent drug policy." Nevertheless, he and most other Mexicans believe the U.S. Congress has no right to pass judgment on what they consider Mexico's business. Harris Whitbeck, CNN, Mexico City.
Mexico Attempts to Control Its Powerful Drug Trade