drugs

"Operation Clean Up" for all

Mexico's secretary of foreign relations, Patricia Espinosa, has made it clear that her government will not single out Panama or any other country when it implements "Operation Clean Up" beginning in March of this year.

The operation is aimed at stopping the flow of drugs into the country, and calls for diverting all private plans entering Mexico from South and Central America to three airports in the southeastern part of the country. There they will be inspected before being allowed to complete their itinerary.

Espinosa explained that these controls are designed to prevent narcotrafficking, which cannot be done on an individual but only a regional level.

The secretary made her declarations while accompanied by Panamanian Chancellor Samuel Lewis Navarro at the thirteenth Reunión del Consejo de Ministros de la Asociación de Estados del Caribe.

Espinosa said that Mexican president Felipe Calderón will make a brief visit to Panama, unofficially scheduled for March 5, to sign a cooperation agreement with President Martín Torrijos to combine forces to overcome the scourge of drug trafficking in Mexico.

The accord will call for exchanging security information that will permit authorities in both countries to act again drug trafficking, organized crime, and money laundering.