<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/0ba08a58-095c-4286-85ed-9289eca4628c/B2BA2B2B-E1AF-4642-A7F7-65D850CBAAE9/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE5810G220090902?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews" href="http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE5810G220090902?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews" style="font-size: 11px;">www.reuters.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE5810G220090902?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews"><P>MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The United States has written checks for $214 million of the $1.4 billion promised to Mexico in 2007 to help fight the country's powerful drug cartels, Washington's top anti-drug diplomat said on Tuesday.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE5810G220090902?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews"><P>The amount is a fraction of $1.12 billion authorized by the U.S. Congress since 2008, of which $700 million was part of funds promised under the 2007 Merida Initiative.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE5810G220090902?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews"><P>The money is intended to pay for equipment and training for Mexican security forces battling the violent drug gangs that send some $40 billion worth of illegal drugs into the United States every year.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE5810G220090902?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews"><P>A supplemental spending bill signed into law in June included an additional $420 million in aid for Mexico.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE5810G220090902?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews"><P>The United States is also helping Mexican police set up internal affairs units to root out corrupt officers and improve recruiting procedures.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE5810G220090902?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews"><P>Johnson said five Bell helicopters built by Textron Inc worth $50 million are due to be delivered in the fall to the Mexican army.</P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/B2BA2B2B-E1AF-4642-A7F7-65D850CBAAE9/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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