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### Viewing cable 08MEXICO1082, SCENESETTER FOR THE VISIT OF SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
08MEXICO1082 | 2008-04-10 19:07 | 2011-02-12 12:12 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Mexico
Appears in these articles: http://wikileaks.jornada.com.mx/notas/estrategias-para-combatir-el-terrorismo

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    VZCZCXRO9095
    RR RUEHCD RUEHGD RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM
    DE RUEHME #1082/01 1011912
    ZNY CCCCC ZZH
    R 101912Z APR 08
    FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
    TO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
    RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1370
    INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
    RAYWMCV/ARMY HQ
    RHMFISS/CDR USNORTHCOM
    RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
    RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC
    RUEAHLA/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
    RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
    RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC

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    149444
    2008-04-10 19:12:00
    08MEXICO1082
    Embassy Mexico
    CONFIDENTIAL

    VZCZCXRO9095
    RR RUEHCD RUEHGD RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM
    DE RUEHME #1082/01 1011912
    ZNY CCCCC ZZH
    R 101912Z APR 08
    FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
    TO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
    RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1370
    INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
    RAYWMCV/ARMY HQ
    RHMFISS/CDR USNORTHCOM
    RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
    RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC
    RUEAHLA/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
    RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
    RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC

    C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 MEXICO 001082

    SIPDIS

    SIPDIS

    SECRETARY OF DEFENSE - FOR OSD

    SIPDIS

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/10/2017
    TAGS: MX OVIP PGOV PINR PREL PTER SNAR
    SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR THE VISIT OF SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
    GATES TO MEXICO CITY -- APRIL 29-30, 2008

    Classified By: ADCM Charles Barclay for reasons 1.4. (B,D)

    ¶1.  (SBU)  On behalf of the U.S. Mission, let me warmly
    welcome you to Mexico City.  Your visit comes at a key
    juncture, as Mexico's military takes stock of its role in
    Mexico and the world -- and looks at its evolving
    relationship with its U.S. counterpart in light of ongoing
    challenges and new responsibilities given it by President
    Calderon.  You will encounter nuanced attitudes among your
    interlocutors regarding cooperation with the U.S. and mixed
    perspectives on many key global and regional security issues.
     However your visit here will provide an excellent overview
    of Mexico's challenging security environment.  Yours is the
    first SecDef visit in over a decade, and we believe you can
    move forward a number of key objectives during your visit,

    Calderon's Key Security Challenge

    ¶2.  (U)  In the year and a half since he took office,
    President Calderon has taken aggressive steps to turn around
    an increasingly difficult domestic security situation -- one
    characterized in recent years by growing narco-related
    violence and the government's loss of initiative and ground
    to organized crime.   The president has launched anti-drug
    operations in more than ten states, raised pay for the
    military, and replaced numerous high-ranking federal police
    officers.  He initiated sweeping operational reforms among
    police elements and successfully sought legislation unifying
    federal police forces and reforming the criminal justice
    system.  These actions and enhancements, when fully
    implemented, will strengthen GOM security capabilities
    across-the-board, make it more responsive to a wide variety
    of security threats and considerably strengthen the bilateral
    security partnership.

    ¶3.  (U)  Calderon has placed a premium on strengthening law
    enforcement cooperation with the U.S.  Early during his term,
    he significantly expanded the number of criminal
    extraditions, instructed key members of his security team to
    build on his predecessor's already positive record of
    engagement with USG counterparts and worked closely with us
    to develop a joint response to the illegal counter-narcotics
    trade based on shared responsibility.   The Merida Initiative
    under discussion in our congress this month is only the
    highest profile element of an emerging pattern of cooperation
    across the board, which is likely to take on momentum in
    coming years.

    Mexican Military Assumes a Pivotal Role

    ¶4.  (SBU)  Mexico's military is pivotal to both Calderon's
    overall counter-narcotics strategy, and to the evolving
    bilateral security relationship.  Mexicans traditionally have
    held the institution in high regard (it consistently polls as
    the country's most respected).  They also expect much of it;
    soldiers and sailors perform a variety of civic action
    oriented tasks ranging from manning polling stations during
    elections to mounting responses to natural disasters. With
    many civilian law enforcement institutions frankly in
    disarray, or compromised outright by narco-traffickers,
    Mexico's military provides Calderon a natural choice as his
    initial counter-narcotics spearhead.

    ¶5.   (SBU) Large-scale military deployments throughout the
    country have raised concerns, to be sure.  Some argue that
    resource and personnel strains will undermine the
    institution's overall effectiveness.  Others worry that
    counter-narcotics operations will expose officers and
    enlisted men to the corrosive temptations of corruption.
    Sporadic human rights abuses by soldiers in the past year
    occasioned heightened concern about this dimension to
    military action.

    ¶6.  (SBU) Senior officers recognize all these concerns and
    have taken counter-measures, such as mobile, limited-duration
    deployments, astute personnel rotations and the establishment
    of a human rights ombudsman.    Loyal to their president,
    they remain committed to remaining at the forefront of the
    counter-narcotics battle until a reformed civilian police
    structure is ready to assume the lead.

    MEXICO 00001082  002 OF 004

    And Contemplates Closer Mil-Mil Ties.

    ¶7.  (C) As their role in defending their country from one
    potent transnational threat broadened in the past year,
    Mexican military officials also looked beyond Mexico's
    landscape at other such threats and began to acknowledge the
    importance of increased security cooperation with the U.S.
    Top military officials have in recent months told us
    President Calderon had instructed them to reach out to the
    U.S.  They have shown interest in increasing training
    opportunities for their soldiers and sailors, asked us to
    broaden intelligence and information sharing and expressed
    their desire, to a variety of USG interlocutors, to find
    concrete ways to improve military to military ties while
    respecting national sovereignty.

    ¶8.  (C) Both national security secretariats, SEDENA and
    SEMAR, played key roles in crafting the Merida Initiative
    package of GOM resource requests, participating fully in a
    lengthy inter-agency process that our civilian contacts told
    us was a milestone both in terms of getting military buy-in
    (SEDENA's in particular) for strengthened bilateral
    cooperation as well as advancing ties among often-competing
    law enforcement and security elements within the executive
    branch here.

    Residual Attitudes Complicate Dialogue, However

    ¶9.  (SBU) Despite their interest in strengthening ties to the
    U.S., you should know that many members of Mexico's armed
    forces remain wary of too closely identifying with U.S.
    security interests.  We are making progress, but it will take
    time to overcome the historic and political differences have
    long inhibited military cooperation. This country's extensive
    experience with foreign interventions and the loss of over
    half of its territory to the U.S. following the
    Mexican-American War created permanent scars on the Mexican
    psyche, generating a sense of national insecurity and
    suspicion about American motives.

    ¶10.  (SBU) Mexico's post-World War II foreign policy has
    reinforced these characteristics, placing a higher premium on
    nonintervention and sovereignty than on confronting and
    resolving issues.  This has often put Mexico at odds with the
    U.S. and limited our sense of common cause even as awareness
    here has increased that the U.S. and Mexico share
    vulnerabilities in the areas of international terrorism,
    narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and natural disasters.
     Many of your interlocutors will have well-defined
    perspectives on the global and regional security environments
    that do not reflect our own thinking.

    ¶11.  (SBU) Mexico does not, for example, share our position
    on the need for robust, forward-based defense of our security
    interests in the Near East or South Asia.  It places less
    emphasis on the potential threat to the region emanating from
    groups such as Al-Qaida. It is less nervous about Iranian
    diplomatic, economic and political outreach in the region
    than we are.  Closer to home, Mexico has long sought to play
    a regional role that is independent of the U.S.  With the
    exception of the Fox administration, Mexican governments --
    including Calderon's -- have generally sought to maintain
    warm ties with Cuba.  Similarly, the GOM has sought to avoid
    high-profile conflicts with the current Venezuelan
    government.  Mexican officials and citizens alike have viewed
    the activities of populist governments, and even certain
    armed groups, in the region as relatively benign, thinking
    consistent with their country's own revolutionary past.

    Key Goals for Your Visit

    ¶14.  (CONFIDENTIAL -- ENTIRE PARAGRAPH)  That said, there are
    many concrete areas where you can make headway in moving key
    aspects of the bilateral military relationship forward.
    During your visit, I hope you can address the following
    issues:

    --Intel/Information Sharing.  We want to respond positively
    to the Mexican military's interest in improving our
    intelligence/information interface but need to enact formal
    agreements that safeguard sensitive material.   I would

    MEXICO 00001082  003 OF 004

    encourage you to press forward on GIOSOMIA agreements, and
    assure our contacts of  our willingness to do so; SEMAR is
    ready to sign but SEDENA is well behind.

    -- Counter-Terrorism Assistance:   In addition to potential
    Merida Initiative assistance, we have an immediate
    opportunity to use FY 08 1206 funds to boost the Mexican
    military's counter terrorism capabilities.   This proposed
    $30.0M support includes light surveillance aircraft,
    protective equipment, inflatable boats, and forensics
    training and equipment.  It complements the support now being
    considered under the Merida Initiative and helps meet
    critical challenges posed by organized criminal networks
    employing terror tactics and which could be potentially
    exploited by global terrorist organizations.  You should take
    the opportunity to underscore our desire to make this
    equipment available soonest, stressing that now is the time
    to move forward on an updated 505 agreement to make it
    possible.  (Foreign Assistance Act Section 505 sets the terms
    and conditions regarding the use and inspection of
    transferred U.S. defense articles to which the Government of
    Mexico must adhere.)

    -- Disaster Planning:  Mexico provided disaster assistance to
    New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, and building our
    disaster relief cooperation is a common goal.  Last year
    SEDENA specifically asked us for consultations related to
    crisis planning/preparedness.  You should encourage this
    interest.

    -- Status/accreditation for Military Exchange Officers:
    Placement of both SEDENA and SEMAR officers in U.S. military
    facilities (including NORTHCOM) marks an extremely positive
    development.  We have similar officers working within Mexican
    institutions.  However, our bilateral military education
    programs are at risk because of a disagreement over the
    nature of accreditation for our respective exchange officers,
    notwithstanding a 1994 Memorandum of Understanding.  This
    issue needs to be worked out in our own interagency, as well
    as with the GOM, but you can signal our strong desire to
    resolve it in the interest of strengthening exchanges in the
    future.

    --Peace Keeping:  Mexico is beginning to consider deploying
    its military in support of peace keeping operations -- a
    significant step forward in broadening the mission of the
    country's armed forces and developing an over-the-horizon
    worldview.  Mexico is campaigning for election to the UN
    Security Council in 2009, and needs to demonstrate a greater
    commitment to international engagement.  You should encourage
    your counterparts to begin seriously considering when they
    can engage in international peace keeping operations.  You
    can also offer to help the Mexican army and navy develop
    their interoperability and other skills to prepare for
    eventual participation in IPOs.

    ¶15.  (SBU) Comment:  The Calderon administration has
    committed to significantly strengthening the security
    relationship with the United States.  While it remains keen
    to balance this effort against its desire to be seen in the
    region as an influential -- and independent -- actor, U.S.
    and Mexico cooperation in broad areas of law enforcement has
    already deepened considerably under this dynamic president.
    The more we work together on such initiatives, the more we
    will develop shared outlooks on the range of security issues
    we face in the world.  Your visit will punctuate an exciting
    juncture in the bilateral relationship and will significantly
    build momentum to even deeper military-to-military
    cooperation.  Please let me know what I and my staff at the
    Embassy can do to make your time in Mexico as productive as
    possible.  GARZA

    MEXICO 00001082  004 OF 004

    Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at
    http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity and the North American
    Partnership Blog at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap /
    GARZA

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