Summary: Hampered by declining U.S. funding, staff cutbacks, and corruption among key Mexican institutions, drug interdiction efforts in Mexico have failed to stem the flow of illegal drugs reaching the United States. Mexico remains the primary transit route for cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine smuggled into this country. U.S. narcotics activities in Mexico and the transit zone have declined since 1992. U.S. funding for counternarcotics efforts in the transit zone and Mexico fell from $1 billion in fiscal year 1992 to $570 million in fiscal year 1995. Moreover, since 1992, direct U.S. assistance to Mexico has been negligible because of Mexico's 1993 policy of refusing most U.S. counternarcotics assistance. Staffing reductions in the State Department's Narcotics Affairs Section at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City have limited monitoring of earlier U.S. assistance, mainly helicopters and spare parts. Since GAO's June 1995 testimony before Congress (GAO/T-NSIAD-95-182), the U.S. embassy has elevated drug control issues in importance and has developed a drug control operating plan with measurable goals; the Mexican government has indicated a willingness to develop a mutual counternarcotics assistance program and has taken action on important law enforcement and money laundering legislation; and the United States and Mexico have created a framework for greater cooperation and are expected to develop a joint counternarcotics strategy by the end of the year. Following through on these efforts is critical to combatting drug trafficking in Mexico. GAO summarized this report in testimony before Congress; see: Drug Control: Observations on Counternarcotics Efforts in Mexico, by Benjamin F. Nelson, Director of International Relations and Trade Issues, before the Subcommittee on National Security, International Relations and Criminal Justice, House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. GAO/T-NSIAD-96-182, June 12 (10 pages).
