Undersecretary for the Interior Geronimo Gutiérrez Fernandez, who oversees domestic security, "expressed a real concern with 'losing' certain regions," according to the memo, posted online on Thursday by the newspaper El Pais of Spain as a growing list of sensitive U.S. government messages were released by WikiLeaks.
"It is damaging Mexico's international reputation, hurting foreign investment, and leading to a sense of government impotence, Gutiérrez said," according to the memo.
The Oct. 5, 2009 cable describes a dinner that the Mexican Attorney General hosted for a delegation from the U.S. Department of Justice. It also quoted Mr Gutiérrez as saying the $1.4 billion Merida Initiative, the United States' major effort to help Mexico fight the drug war, was too hastily crafted to be effective.
"In retrospect he and other GOM (Government of Mexico) officials realise that not enough strategic thought went into Merida in the early phase," the memo said. "There was too much emphasis in the initial planning on equipment, which they now know is slow to arrive and even slower to be of direct utility in the fight against the DTOs (drug-trafficking organisations.)"
President Felipe Calderón, who launched an assault on drug cartels in 2006, has maintained the federal government has control over all the country. Both the U.S. and Mexico have said recently that Merida money in the future would be directed towards creating more effective institutions.
Contacted on Thursday afternoon, Mr Calderon's office said it had just seen the cables and had no immediate comment.
Mexican officials also proposed a strategy of regaining order in three of the most violent cities – Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez, and Culiacán, in the western state of Sinaloa, home to the powerful cartel of the same name, the cable said.
Mr Gutiérrez and National Security System Coordinator Jorge Tello Peon said Mr Calderón has to stop the violence in Ciudad Juarez, the cable said.
"Politically ... Calderón has staked so much of his reputation there, with a major show of force that, to date, has not panned out," the cable said Mr Gutiérrez and Mr Peon told U.S. officials at the dinner.
