Mexican leader urges U.S. action on drug cartels

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) - Mexican President Felipe Calderon said closing the border would be a "very, very big mistake" for the U.S. economy, although he urged Washington on Monday to do more to fight illegal drug cartels.

In his first visit to the United States since taking office in 2006, Calderon added that he hoped the winner of November's U.S. presidential election could change a perception in the United States that Mexicans are an enemy of American workers.

"Probably the worst thing that happened in this country is this anti-Mexican or anti-immigrant spirit or perception in the people, and we need to change that," he said in response to a question after giving a speech at Harvard University.

"I need to change Mexico's perception that the Americans are the enemies, and it's important to change the perception that the Mexicans are the enemy," he added.

He said Mexico had made big strides in its war against drug cartels but that the United States also bears responsibility for the illegal drug trade and should do more to stop it.

"Drugs is not only my problem. It's not mainly a problem of Mexico. Our problem is we are the neighbor of the largest consumer of the world. And we are paying the cost for this," he said in his speech to Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

Calderon has deployed 25,000 soldiers in his effort to destroy the cartels, an unprecedented campaign that began shortly after he took office.

More than 2,500 people were killed in drug violence in Mexico in 2007 and at least 250 have died so far this year as cartels smuggling cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine fight for control of routes to the United States.

"I think the American government must do its part in this terrible battle," he said.

Calderon added that the U.S. economy's slide toward recession underscored the need for the United States, Mexico and Canada to integrate their economies into a free market in order to rebuff growing competition from Asia and Europe.

'VERY, VERY BIG MISTAKE'

"The American economy is suffering. But if you take the point of view that the solution for this situation -- the lack of competitiveness in the American economy -- is closing the border, you are making a very, very big mistake," he said.

"Clearly we are two complementary economies. And that phenomenon is impossible to stop," he said.

Last year, the U.S. Senate killed President George W. Bush's overhaul of immigration policy, dashing the hopes of some 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States, many of them Mexicans.

Hispanics are the biggest and fastest-growing U.S. minority -- about 15 percent of the population -- with Mexicans accounting for some 75 percent.

Calderon lamented the sight of Mexican workers leaving for the United States, saying their loss hurt Mexican society, but he said the United States clearly benefited, citing a 2007 report prepared by Bush's Council of Economic Advisers.

That report said immigrants boosted the productivity of U.S. native-born workers and increased their earnings by as much as $37 billion a year, although it noted "small negative effects" on the earnings of the least-skilled Americans.

Calderon began his five-day trip to the United States on Sunday in New York. He will also visit Mexican communities in Chicago and California.

(Editing by Patricia Zengerle)