Mexico intercepts 23.5 tons of cocaine

Washington Post:

Mexico's navy announced the largest cocaine seizure in this country's history Thursday, saying investigators have discovered 23.5 tons of cocaine, with a street value of more than $400 million, at the Pacific coast port of Manzanillo.

The seizure comes at a time when the Mexican government is eager to show off a robust anti-narcotics effort to a U.S. Congress that has been less than enthusiastic about President Bush's proposed $500 million Mexican anti-drug aid package.

On Thursday, U.S. Ambassador Antonio O. Garza Jr. -- an active supporter of the aid deal, which is known as the "Merida Initiative" -- used the seizure to lobby for approval of the counternarcotics plan.

"This seizure highlights the need for U.S. congressional action on the proposed Merida Initiative, which will provide both countries with more and better tools to coordinate our high-stakes battle against the cartels and their narco-trafficking activities," Garza said.

Mexican military crews discovered the huge cocaine shipment Tuesday, saying they had seized more than 11 tons of cocaine found in containers at the Manzanillo port. But on Thursday, Mariano Francisco Saynez Mendoza, the secretary of Mexico's navy, announced the discovery of more containers filled with cocaine, pushing the total amount seized to 23.5 tons. The seizure dwarfed the previous record of 11.5 tons seized last month in the northern state of Tamaulipas.

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Mexico's increased seriousness in dealing with the drug insurgency is paying off. Garza is right in saying we need to implement the Merida Initiative to work with Mexico to fight our common enemy. The Mexicans say the total may go higher as they search a Hong Kong ship that recently arrived at the same port after a stop in Columbia. The seizures have to be a b low to the cartels to lose a total of 35 tons of product in a short period of time. They also suggest that Mexico is getting better intelligence on the flow of drugs.