Mexico’s Calderon set for US talks

Mexican President Felipe Calderon is preparing to visit Washington for two days of talks that come amid recent strains in US-Mexico relations.

Mr Calderon is scheduled to meet with US President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner during the trip.

The talks are expected to focus on immigration, economic issues and anti-crime co-operation.

The visit comes weeks after the killing of a US agent in Mexico and leaked US criticism of Mexico’s war on drugs.

Mr Calderon, who is scheduled to arrive in Washington later on Wednesday, is also set to meet members of the US business community, during his visit to the US.

Mr Obama is committed to the “strong partnership that the United States has with Mexico. That is the reason for the meeting,” said White House spokesman Jay Carney.

Commentators say that the costs of Mexico’s drug war, diplomatic cable leaks, anti-immigration initiatives in the US and the influx of US arms into Mexico are all working to degrade a relationship between the two countries that had until recently seen improvement in the past several years.

The BBC’s Steve Kingstone, in Washington, says that the backdrop to this visit could not be grimmer.

Strained relationship

The trip comes roughly two weeks after US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata was gunned down on a road in northern Mexico, reportedly with a weapon that came from the US.

On Sunday, the Mexican military arrested the suspected local head of the Los Zetas drugs gang in the northern state of Coahuila, who was reported to be the boss of the gunman in the attack.

Adding to recent tensions between the two countries was the release of leaked cables written by US embassy personnel, which claimed Mexico’s armed forces to be inefficient, corrupt and reliant on the US for leads and operations.

Mr Calderon was said to have reacted furiously to the release and objected to cables that talked about a lack of coordination among Mexican agencies.

Mexican officials have also reportedly been angered at the tough measures to stop illegal immigration in several US states, like Arizona and Texas.