Central Michigan University

• Secretary Clinton's visit to Mexico

Topics in this story: American politics and society, College of Education and Human Services, Government and politics, Political Science, World politics and culture

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit Mexico March 25-26 during her first trip to Latin America since taking office. Central Michigan University political science professor Orlando Perez is available to comment on her visit to the area.

A few of Perez's initial thoughts on the subject:

• "Mrs. Clinton will visit Mexico City and Monterrey in an effort to bolster Mexico's fight against drug cartels, which have unleashed a wave of violence that threatens the stability of our close neighbor. Mexico is the United States' third largest trading partner and the largest source of immigrants. Mexican officials say the violence killed 6,290 people last year and more than 1,000 in the first eight weeks of 2009."
• "Mexico is the main transit point for cocaine entering the U.S. and a source for much of the heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine consumed in the United States. The State Department issued a travel alert last month that compared recent confrontations between Mexican authorities and the cartels to 'small-unit combat.' In response to concerns by Mexico that the warning will negatively affect their tourism industry, and discourage thousands of students from traveling to Mexico for spring break or study abroad, U.S. officials stressed that the violence was localized."
• "Clinton's visit to Monterrey, an industrial city near the Texas border, is in part intended to signal that the Obama administration does not believe Mexico is unsafe. Despite downplaying the effect of the travel warning, U.S. government officials regard the violence as a major national security threat for the U.S. The spiraling violence has worried authorities in border states and sparked calls to send U.S. military troops to the border."

  
  Perez specializes in Latin American politics, U.S.-Latin American relations, civil-military relations and the politics of developing nations. He speaks English and Spanish.

  More detailed information about Perez can be found at his faculty Web site, http://www.chsbs.cmich.edu/Political_Science/Directory/Perez.asp.

  Contact: Heather Smith, 989-774-1702, heather.smith@cmich.edu