U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is visiting a police station in Mexico's capital in a show of support for authorities caught up in a struggle with powerful drug cartels.

She also is ready to have a discussion with university students in Monterrey about U.S.-Mexican relations in general as she continues a brief tour which started with a pledge to stand with Mexico in the fight against drug-related crime.

"The criminals and kingpins spreading violence are trying to corrode the foundations of law, order, friendship and trust between us that support our continent," Clinton said Wednesday, flanked by Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Patricia Espinosa. "They will fail."

"We will stand shoulder to shoulder with you," she said after lengthy talks with Espinosa and Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

A day before Clinton arrived in Mexico City, the Obama administration pledged to send more money, technology and manpower to secure the border in the U.S. Southwest and help Mexico battle the cartels.

She said Wednesday the White House also would seek an additional $80 million to help Mexico buy Blackhawk helicopters.

All that is in addition to a three-year, $1.4 billion Bush administration-era program to support Mexico's efforts. Congress already has approved $700 million of that. President Barack Obama has said he wants to revamp the initiative.

Obama said Tuesday he wanted the U.S. to do more to prevent guns and cash from illicit drug sales from flowing into Mexico.

Clinton on Wednesday went further than U.S. officials have previously in acknowledging the United States must share the blame for the drug problem because of a continuing strong demand for drugs at home.

"I feel very strongly we have a co-responsibility," Clinton told reporters.

"Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade," she said. "Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians."

Criminals are outgunning law enforcement officials, she said, referring to guns and military-style equipment such as night-vision goggles and body armor that the cartels are smuggling from the U.S.

The U.S. measures outlined Tuesday include increasing the number of immigrations and customs agents, drug agents and antigun-trafficking agents operating along the U.S. border, as well as sending more American officials to work inside Mexico.

Those measures fall short of calls from some U.S. states that troops be deployed to prevent further spillover of the violence, which has surged since Calderon stepped up his government's battle against the cartels.

Source:
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