US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has voiced full support for the Mexican president's efforts in fighting drug gangs that left more than 15,000 people dead last year.
"It is messy. It causes lots of terrible things to be on the news," Clinton said on her visit to Mexico. "The drug traffickers are not going to give up without a fight.”
Clinton added that the US has recognized the need to put a stop to the flow of money and guns from the US to the cartels, according to the state-funded BBC.
Clinton and Mexican President Felipe Calderon also discussed economic issues, including the access of Mexican truck drivers to the US market, immigration and border control, and climate change.
In 2008, the US started a three-year USD 1.6-billion security cooperation program called the Merida Initiative that provides equipment, training, and intelligence information to the Mexican, Central American, and Caribbean governments in their drug war efforts.
A total of 34,600 people have been killed since 2006, when Calderon launched a clampdown on the country's powerful gangs, involving tens of thousands of troops.
MD/PKH/AKM