EL PASO - On Friday, March 19, 2010 at 10:00 a.m., at Senator Eliot Shapleigh's District Office, Senator Shapleigh will host a press conference to discuss his visit to Mexico City and initiatives in fighting cartels along the Camino Real Corridor.  

Border Legislative Conference members from the U.S. – Mexico border states met on March 15-18, 2010 in Mexico City for the Mexico City Delegation Visit. Participating legislators had the opportunity to discuss issues of great importance in the bilateral relationship, including the Merida initiative.

 "What we need now is patient, careful, and strong leadership. Our three state region needs a coordinated plan and the kind of help that neighbors give neighbors. Our thoughts and prayers are with our brothers and sisters in Juarez,” said Senator Shapleigh. 

The Conference included the participation from Senator Denise Moreno Ducheny, Chair, Border Legislative Conference, California State Senate. Diputado Ramiro Flores Morales, Vice Chair, Border Legislative Conference, Coahuila State Legislature. Senator Lou Correa, California State Senate. Senator Mary Jane Garcia, New Mexico State Senate. Representative Andy Nuñez, New Mexico House of Representatives. Senator Jeff Wentworth, Texas State Senate. Senator Eliot Shapleigh, Texas State Senate. Diputada Edna Mireya Perez Corona, Baja California State Legislature. Diputado Juan Manuel de Santiago Moreno, Chihuahua State Legislature. Diputado Moisés Ignacio Casal Díaz, Sonora State Legislature. Diputado Marco Antonio Ramírez Wakamatzu, Sonora State Legislature; and Diputada Leslie Pantoja Hernández, Sonora State Legislature.

The agenda for the Mexico City Delegation Visit is as follows:

Monday, March 15

All Day                       Arrival of BLC Members to Mexico City

8:15 a.m.                     Meet in Lobby of Hotel Melia Mexico

8:30 a.m.                     Depart to Mexico’s Federal Senate

9:00 – 11:00 a.m.        Meeting with Members of Mexico’s Federal Senate

• Senator Jaime Rafael Diaz Ochoa

   Chair, Northern Border Affairs Committee

• Members of the Northern Border Affairs Committee

• Members Foreign Relations Committee

11:15 a.m.                   Depart to Office of the Attorney General

12:30 – 2:00 p.m.        Meeting with Arturo Chavez Chavez

                                    Attorney General of Mexico

4:00 p.m.                     Depart to Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies

5:00 p.m.                     Meeting with Members of Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies

• Foreign Relations Committee  

Wednesday, March 17

10:30 a.m.                   Depart to Ministry of Foreign Affairs

11:00 a.m.                   Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs

                                    Meeting with Julian Ventura, Undersecretary for North America

12:15 p.m.                   Depart to National Historical Museum: Chapultepec Castle

12:30 p.m.                   Visit Chapultepec Castle  

3:30 p.m.                     Depart to U.S. Embassy

4:30 p.m.                     Meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual and other Officials from the United States Embassy

7:00 p.m.                     Tour and Reception of Casa de California:

University of California’s facility in Mexico City

Thursday, March 18

 All Day                       Departure of BLC Members

Below is the text of a letter that Senator Shapleigh sent to Senator John Carona, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security regarding cartels along the Camino Real Corridor:            

Re: “Fighting Cartels on the Camino Real Corridor/Merida II”  

Dear John, I write to update you on the situation in Juarez.  Over the last few weeks, approximately 250 experts from Washington, D.C. and Mexico, D.F. representing a dozen agencies have been on the ground in Juarez, San Diego, Tijuana and other Border communities on a fact-finding mission to inform a policy review and assessment of the fundamental policy changes critical to US-Mexico bilateral relations.   

Their basic plan is to frame Merida II around four key policy objectives: federal security, local/state security, jobs, and socioeconomic concerns. Key interest groups here and in Mexico want to broaden the policy discussion further to include the trillion-dollar annual (and growing) demand for drugs in the United States.  Many see the recent massacre of two adults and thirteen innocent teenagers in Juarez as the “tipping point” to catalyze political change in Mexico. President Calderon’s recent visits to Juarez have spurred a negative response unlike any seen since the 1910s.  A mother of one of the teenage boys murdered by the cartel told President Calderon to “leave Juarez” after his administration accused all the teenage victims of being cartel members. In the President’s defense, he permitted her to vent her anger on national television.   

During his visits to Juarez, President Calderon admitted that his administration's current policies are not working and ordered members of his cabinet to remain in Juarez until his return to accept feedback from the community on his new proposals. 

Later in March, U.S. and Mexican counterparts will meet to finalize their recommendations, which they will then present in D.C. and to state and local governments. Later, both Presidents will meet to formalize and sign Merida II.  Key recommendations will come from the San Diego/Tijuana and El Paso/Ciudad Juarez ports, which are among the most important manufacturing/logistics regions in North America. In fact, 20% of NAFTA manufacturing output is from the Juarez, El Paso, Southern New Mexico region.    

The U.S. Trade Representative, Ron Kirk, acknowledged the significance of U.S.-Mexico trade and noted that cross-border trade surpasses $1 billion a day. Ambassador Kirk also has strongly emphasized that we should continue to strengthen our relationship and enable businesses to take advantage of trade opportunities. Today, Texas trades more with Mexico than all the European Union combined, so clearly, Texas strategic interests are at stake. 

Our office is working 24-7 on three key economic and infrastructure recommendations that our office and the Border Legislative Conference, state lawmakers of the ten U.S. and Mexican border states have promoted with the Bush Administration, various Governors and in particular, Governor Rick Perry for several years now:  

1)      Secure Manufacturing tax credits for key, emerging clusters, aimed at restoring 100,000 lost jobs, which are a contributing factor in the unrest in Juarez;  

2)      El Paso County Secure Border Trade Demonstration Program: The expanded pilot program would equip 1500 commercial trucks with state-of-the-art intelligent transportation system devices to secure cargo and transmit key data into a central repository where the data can be analyzed by software agents to detect anomalies that may have comprised the security of the protected cargo.  This secure, fast, smart technology pilot will eliminate 8-hour waits for commercial traffic; and, 

3)      21^st  Century Mass Transit - El Paso and Ciudad Juarez:  A 3.5 mile City of El Paso proposal, linked to proposals from the Municipio De Juarez a 10 mile cross-border, commuter rail to safely and quickly link Juarez/El Paso business and education institutions that uses biometric identifiers to ensure the secure, fast movement of international mass transit passengers across the Border. Secure systems like this have long been used in Canada, Europe and even in the Green Zone in Baghdad; in Seattle-Vancouver, a similar rail system has been in use for years.  

Increasingly, policymakers are realizing that the blunt-force security focus of the last eight years has shut down secure, lawful manufacturing by the 3,500 Fortune 500 companies doing business in the ten Border States; hamstrung North American manufacturing competitiveness; and accelerated the loss of North American jobs. The Maquiladora Association of Juarez recently reported that nearly one billion dollars has not come to the city due to the climate of insecurity. These resources would have generated between 70,000 and 80,000 jobs.    The Association also reported that maquiladora employment decreased from 249, 837 workers in January 2008 to 166,454 in June 2009.  This translates to a net job loss of 83,000 jobs during 18 months.  The recession in the U.S. has contracted segments of the manufacturing market too. It is important to consider that approximately 2,000 El Pasoans work in Ciudad Juarez in a maquiladora's occupying professional and management positions, and more than 66,000 El Paso jobs are linked to the Juarez economy.  

This consensus is spurring the need for a broad policy review, immediate and effective security for Juarez citizens, deeper understanding of root causes of cartel appeal, and serious job creation assessment. 

On the ground, the facts are as follows: 

• approximately 420,000 individuals have already left Juarez;

• Since January 2007, when the Mexican drug war began, 9,903 people have been killed.  In 2009 alone, Juarez had more than 2,600 slayings, while Tijuana had more than 600.  In fact, Juarez is now the murder capital of the world, far ahead of more peaceful locations like Baghdad;  

Click here to view larger image.