Downturn complicates Mexico's drug battle -minister

ROME, March 31 (Reuters) - Mexico's economic downturn is complicating the battle against drug trafficking, draining state budgets and boosting the ranks of the unemployed who may turn to criminal gangs for work, a government minister said on Tuesday.

"An adverse (economic) situation like the one we're faced with obviously complicates the fight against drug trafficking," Social Development Minister Ernesto Cordero Arroyo said.

"People have less opportunities of legal work and the illegal jobs are still there, they're still attractive for many communities."

President Felipe Calderon's army-backed crackdown on drug cartels has become the biggest test of his presidency after turf wars between rival cartels killed some 6,300 people across Mexico last year, posing a threat to investment and tourism.

Arroyo, attending a labour ministers' meeting in Rome, said the ongoing contraction -- which reached a 9.48 percent annual rate in January -- had made it difficult to increase spending on crucial programmes.

Still, he cautioned that outlays for prevention programmes had so far increased.

"It (the economic downturn) also complicates things because it makes it difficult to strengthen public finances of states so they can combat organised crime, not just in Mexico, but in general," Arroyo said.

Mexico, which is grappling with falling exports of crude oil and manufactured goods, spent a total of around $6.4 billion in 2007 and 2008 on its drug war.

Arroyo's comments in Rome were bound to resonate in Italy, where the country's intelligence services have warned that the the global downturn was giving the Italian mafia a chance to buy up struggling businesses and tighten its grip on the economy. (Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Charles Dick)

Italy

Mexico

• Tweet this
• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Reprints

Comments (0)

This discussion is now closed. We welcome comments on our articles for a limited period after their publication.