US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is leading a high-level delegation to Mexico to discuss the fight on drugs.

The long-planned visit comes 10 days after the killings of three people connected to the US consulate in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez.

Officials will discuss the Merida initiative, a $1.6bn US programme of aid aimed at fighting the drug cartels.

The visit comes a year after President Barack Obama promised to be a "full partner" with Mexico in fighting drugs.

Defence Secretary Robert Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano are part of the US delegation.

ANALYSIS
Julian Miglierini
BBC News, Mexico City
This high-level meeting between Mexican and US security officials has come into sharp focus since the killing of three people linked to the US diplomatic mission in Ciudad Juarez.

Since that incident, Washington has expressed growing concern over the spiralling drug-related conflict and the situation in places like Ciudad Juarez, just across the border from Texas, where more than 500 people have died since the New Year. Some Americans fear a spill-over into US territory and against their interests.

In turn, the Mexican government insists that Washington do more. Guns bought north of the border end up in the drug barons’ hands, it argues, and the heavy demand for drugs in US territory is the root cause of the conflict.

What this meeting seems to confirm is that other important issues of the US-Mexico relationship, like migration and trade, have virtually vanished from the bilateral agenda. These days, their relationship seems to be largely focused on Mexico’s drugs war.

Mrs Clinton is due to meet Mexican President Felipe Calderon at the end of her one-day visit.

Officials will focus on the push to improve law enforcement and how to involve communities on both side of the border in security planning.

Most of the funds in the Merida programme, which is due to expire in 2011, are allocated to Mexico, with the rest going to other countries in Central America.

On the eve of the talks, Mr Obama spoke to Mr Calderon to "underscore his administration’s commitment to the strong bilateral relationship between the United States and Mexico", a US statement said.

The pair discussed their "mutual desire to work together for the benefit of the safety and security of citizens on both sides of our shared border", it added.

Lesley Enriquez – a US citizen working at the Juarez consulate – her American husband, Arthur Redelfs, and Jorge Alberto Salcido, the Mexican husband of another consular employee, were shot dead in two separate incidents on 13 March.

The motives for the killings remain unclear.

Last week, US police across the border in El Paso, Texas, rounded up members of the Barrio Azteca gang suspected of carrying out the killings.

Drug-related violence has left some 18,000 people dead in Mexico since 2006.

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