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The
new effort comes amid strained ties between the neighbors and
about four months before Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel
Lopez Obrador, a left-leaning nationalist, is due to take power.
Lopez Obrador has vowed to shake up Mexico's war on drug cartels
and wants to rewrite the rules, aides have said, suggesting
negotiated peace and amnesties rather than a hardline strategy
critics blame for perpetuating violence.
He has also said he wants to reset relations with the United
States, which have been rocky since Donald Trump became
president.
"We are sure the next president of the republic will be willing
to collaborate in the fight against organized crime," Felipe de
Jesus Munoz Vazquez, Mexico's deputy attorney general for the
specialized investigation of federal crimes unit, told a joint
U.S.-Mexican news conference in Chicago.
Lopez Obrador's team offered no immediate comment, but his
future security minister, Alfonso Durazo, has said all
co-operation pacts between the neighbors will be reviewed.
A spokeswoman of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said
the co-operation was the first of its kind since a Mexican
delegation of this size had never before combined forces and
traveled to the United States to publicly discuss ways to battle
transnational criminal networks.
Since the 1970s, the "DEA and the Government of Mexico have
cooperated on combating the flow of illegal drugs through
exchange of information and intelligence," the spokeswoman, Cori
Rizman, told Reuters in an email.
These efforts had aimed to disrupt and dismantle cartels
affecting both sides of the border, she added.
They include the decade-old $2.9-billion Merida Initiative that
directs aid from U.S. agencies to Mexico to fight organized
crime and drug trafficking, Durazo said this month.
Lopez Obrador wants to refocus aid to social and economic
projects, he added.
"The sole purpose of these entities is one thing and one thing
only - money," said Anthony Williams, chief of operations for
the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, so that targeting
cartel finances is crucial to stop the flow of drugs.
Mexico remains the principal highway for cocaine to the United
States and has become the top source of heroin, which is fueling
a surge in opioid addiction. It is also a major supplier of
methamphetamines.
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said Mexican cartels
were responsible for much of the illegal drugs flowing into the
nation's third-largest city, which has been plagued by gang
violence and shootings.
Officials and security experts in the United States have
applauded long-running two-way efforts to crack down on drug
gangs during the administration of outgoing Mexican President
Enrique Pena Nieto and earlier.
For the past 12 years, Mexico has deployed thousands of police,
soldiers and intelligence officers to fight the violent cartels.
On Wednesday, Mexico said it was offering a reward of 30 million
pesos ($1.6 million) for information leading to the arrest of
Nemesio Oseguera, whose cartel is blamed for driving heroin
shipments to the United States.
Known as "El Mencho," Oseguera has become Mexico's most-wanted
drug lord after Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was extradited for
trial to the United States last year.
In March, U.S. agents in Chicago named El Mencho public enemy
No. 1 and blamed his gang for using "extreme violence" to expand
its share of the heroin trade. The United States is offering $5
million for information leading to his capture.
(Reporting by Karen Pierog; Additional reporting by Lizbeth Diaz
and Dave Graham in Mexico City; Writing by Jon Herskovitz;
Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Clarence Fernandez)
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