Mérida Initiative Portal

The Mérida Initiative is a security cooperation program involving the United States and Mexico, as well as some Central American and Caribbean nations. It is designed to strengthen cooperation and build trust among countries in the region to better combat drug trafficking and organized crime. This webpage contains links to background reports, analysis, official documents, congressional hearings, and other resources on the Mérida Initiative, as well as information on U.S.-Mexico security cooperation generally.

For up-to-date news on issues affecting U.S.-Mexico relations please visit our Mexico Portal.


New to the Portal

NEW: Testimony of Eric L. Olson before the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs
“Transnational Drug Enterprises: Threats to Global Stability and U.S. National Security.” October 1, 2009


Policy Briefs/Fact Sheets

Police Reform and Modernization in Mexico
Eric L. Olson, September 2009

Confronting the Challenges of Organized Crime in Mexico and Latin America
Eric L. Olson and Robert Donnelly, September 2009

U.S.-Mexico National Security Cooperation against Organized Crime: The Road Ahead
Sigrid Arzt, September 2009

Security. U.S.-Mexico Cooperation: A New Opportunity?
Andrew Selee, Americas Quarterly , Summer 2009 Issue

Fact Sheet: U.S. Southwest Border Security Initiatives
Robert Donnelly and Miguel Salazar, September 2009

Summary of Appropriations Bills
The Merida Initiative and Southwest Border Security
Prepared by Eric L. Olson and Miguel Salazar, September 2009

2008-2010 Merida Initiative Funding Table
Funding Requests and Appropriations to Date, and Merida Initiative Funding by Aid Account
Prepared by Eric L. Olson and Miguel Salazar, September 2009

Strengthening U.S.-Mexico Cooperation Against Drug Trafficking: What Can State Attorneys General Do?
Andrew Selee, June 2009

The United States and Mexico: Towards a Strategic Partnership
A Report of Four Working Groups on U.S.-Mexico Relations, February 2009

Six Key Issues in United States-Mexico Security Cooperation
Eric Olson, July 2008

Overview of the Merida Initiative
Andrew Selee, May 2008


Analysis, Reports and Other Resources

CRS: Gun Trafficking and the Southwest Border
Vivian S. Chu, Legislative Attorney and William J. Drouse, Specialist in Domestic Security and Crime Policy (CRS) September 21, 2009

The Continued Standstill in Reducing Illicit Drug Use: Is the Policy-Budget Mismatch to Blame?
Carnevale Associates, September 2009

CRS Report: Mérida Initiative for Mexico and Central America: Funding and Policy Issues
Clare Ribando Seelke (CRS Analyst), August 2009

GAO: Firearms Trafficking-U.S. Efforts to Combat Arms Trafficking to Mexico Face Planning and Coordination Challenges
June, 2009

“The Merida Initiative” Fact Sheet
State Department, June 2009

“Merida Initiative: Myth vs. Fact”
State Department, June 2009

Uniform Impunity Mexico's Misuse of Military Justice to Prosecute Abuses in Counternarcotics and Public Security Operations
Human Rights Watch, 2009

Security in Mexico: Implications for U.S. Policy Options
Agnes Gereben Schaefer, Benjamin Bahney, K. Jack Riley, RAND Corporation, 2009

CRS Report: Mérida Initiative: Proposed U.S. Anticrime and Counterdrug Assistance for Mexico and Central America
Colleen W. Cook, Rebecca G. Rush, and Clare Ribando Seelke (CRS Analysts), June 2008

Conference: “The Merida Initiative and Central America”
The Brookings Institution, May 2009

Hands Across the Border
Senator Dick Lugar and Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan
Politico, May 15, 2008

Presentations from Congressional Policy Forum:
The Mérida Initiative and U.S.-Mexico Security Cooperation
Role of Military to Military Cooperation and the Implications and Potentials Risks to Civil-Military Relations , Roderic Camp
Mexico’s Judicial Reform and Long-term Challenges, Miguel Sarre
May 9, 2008

Detailed interactive map of the “War Against Drug Cartels”
El Universal, May 2008

The "Merida Initiative" Signed into Law Will Lead to the Militarization of Mexico and U.S.-Mexico Relations
CIP Americas Program (Center for International Policy), May, 2008

Five Perspectives on the Mérida Initiative
Ted Brennan, Robert "Bobby" Charles, Henry Cuellar, Roberta Jacobson, and Armand Peschard-Sverdrup
American Enterprise Institute, Latin American Outlook, 3/4/2008

The Mérida Initiative: "Guns, Drugs and Friends"
Carl Meacham, Report to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, December 2007

At A Crossroads: Drug, Trafficking, Violence and the Mexican State
Maureen Meyer, WOLA, November 2007

Mexican Civil Society Letter to U.S. Congress
Amnesty International and Center Prodh

The U.S. and Mexico: Taking the “Mérida Initiative” Against Narco-Terror
Ray Walser and James M. Roberts, The Heritage Foundation, November 2007

Mexico and the Merida Initiative: Make Human Rights the Core
Amnesty International

A Primer on Plan Mexico
Laura Carlsen, CIP Americas Program (Center for International Policy), May 2008

Articles from Foreign Affairs en español
Carlos Rico, Laurie Freeman, Joel Fyke and Maureen Meyer
January - March, 2008


Official Documents

Status of Appropriations Bills
Status of Appropriation Bills, Second Session, One Hundred Tenth Congress; Status of Appropriation Bills, First Session, One Hundred Eleventh Congress

Mexico-Merida Initiative Report on Human Rights
U.S. Department of State, August 2009

Letters of Intent Between The National Conference of Attorneys General of Mexico and the Conference of Western Attorneys General of the United States Regarding Efforts to Combat:
Narcotics Trafficking, Firearms Trafficking, Organized Crime
August 1-2, 2009

ONDCP: National Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy
June, 2009

Testimony of Gil Kerlikowske: ONDCP’s Fiscal Year 2010 National Drug Control Budget and the Priorities, Objectives, and Policies of the Office of National Drug Control Policy under the New Administration
Budget Highlights May 19, 2009

ONDCP National Drug Control Strategy FY 2010 Budget Summary
May 2009

H.R.2638
Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act of 2009

H.R. 1105
Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009

H.R. 2642
Final Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2008

Statement of U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy on the Merida Initiative
21/05/ 2008

Message from Mexico’s Interior Secretary, Juan Mouriño, on the Merida Initiative
Secretaría de Gobernación, 06/02/08

Approved Merida Budget (Senate Version)
FY 2008 Spring Supplemental Bill
U.S. Senate

Approved Merida Budget
FY 2008 Supplemental Bill
U.S. House of Representatives

H.R. 6028
Text of bill sponsored by Committee on Foreign Affairs Chair Howard Berman

U.S. Embassy in Mexico
Borders and Law Enforcement: Mérida Initiative

FY 2009 Briefing Book: Appropriations Subcommittee Narratives and Tables

Merida Initiative Program Description Reference Document Mexican Security Cooperation (Part I)
February 2008

Merida Initiative Program Description Reference Document Mexican Security Cooperation (Part II)
February 2008

Council on Foreign Relations: Joint Statement on the Merida Initiative
October 2007


Hearings and Legislative Information

NEW: Testimony of Eric L. Olson before the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs
“Transnational Drug Enterprises: Threats to Global Stability and U.S. National Security.” October 1, 2009

The Rise of The Mexican Drug Cartels and U.S. National Security
July 9, 2009, Testimonies before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform: The Honorable Edolphus Towns, Mr. Alan Bersin, Mr. Lanny A. Breuer, Mr. R. Gil Kerlikowske, Mr. Todd Owen, Mr. Kumar Kibble , Mr. Robert McBrien , Witness List

U.S. Efforts To Combat Arms Trafficking To Mexico: Report From The Government Accountability Office (GAO)
June 19, 2009, Testimonies before the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, House Committee on Foreign Affairs: View Transcript
GAO Report

Guns, Drugs and Violence: The Merida Initiative and the Challenge in Mexico:
March 18, 2009, Testimonies before the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, House Committee on Foreign Affairs: View Transcript

Chairman Engel Lauds House Passage Of Merida Initiative Authorization Act of 2008
News from Congressman Eliot Engel, June 10, 2008

Final Vote Results for Roll Call 393
Bill H.R. 6028 Merida Initiative to Combat Illicit Narcotics and Reduce Organized Crime Authorization Act, June 2008

Central America and the Merida Initiative
May 8, 2008, Testimonies before the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, House Committee on Foreign Affairs: The Honorable Eliot L. Engel, The Honorable Thomas A. Shannon, Mr. Geoff Thale, Mr. Harold Sibaja, Ms. Beatriz C. Casals

U.S. Obligations under the Merida Initiative
February 7, 2008, Testimonies before the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, House Committee on Foreign Affairs: The Honorable Eliot L. Engel, The Honorable Dan Burton, The Honorable Scott Burns, The Honorable Thomas A. Shannon, The Honorable Marisa R. Lino, The Honorable William J. Hoover, Mr. Anthony P. Placido, Mr. Kenneth W. Kaiser

U.S. Security Assistance to Mexico
October 25, 2007, Testimonies before the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, House Committee on Foreign Affairs: The Honorable Eliot L. Engel, Mr. Jess T. Ford, The Honorable James R. Jones, Dr. John Bailey, Ms. Joy Olson, Mr. Armand Peschard-Sverdrup

Mexico Institute
Woodrow Wilson Center
One Woodrow Wilson Plaza
1300 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20004-3027
Email: mexico@wilsoncenter.org
Tel: 202/691-4399