Truemors
John McCain is expected to touch issues like immigration and drug trafficking and the importance of the Hispanic vote in the November presidential election.
US Republican presidential hopeful John McCain arrived in Mexico Wednesday on the second stop of his short Latin America tour seeking to score points with the large Latino voting block back home.
With his previous stop in Colombia overshadowed by the dramatic rescue of 15 hostages of the leftist FARC guerillas, and amid talk of a shakeup in his campaign organization, McCain flew into the Mexican capital planning to meet President Filipe Calderon on Thursday.
McCain was expected to express his support for Calderon's battle against narcotics gangs and organized crime during the 24-hour stopover, in the wake of the US approval last week of the 1.6-billion-dollar, three-year package of anti-drug assistance to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean known as the Merida Initiative.
"Drug cartels have basically taken control of some towns on the Mexican border," McCain told ABC News Wednesday, speaking from the Colombian seaside city of Cartagena.
"There is clearly a continued threat of drugs pouring into the United States of America, which can harm us and our young people very badly."
A smiling Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, was greeted by U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza at Mexico City's international airport and left without making a statement.
Mexico remains a wedge issue for many American voters, including those living in key electoral states, such as Michigan and Ohio, where freer trade with Mexico is controversial.
"McCain is also walking a fine line, particularly with hard-line conservatives," Mr. Peschard-Sverdrup said. "The imagery in Mexico would be great if the United States was experiencing a booming economy. But people want to know, what will you do for me here in the United States, and so this trip doesn't answer that question."
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