Clinton to visit Mexico to discuss drugs, economy

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U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit Mexico on March 25-26, the State Department said on Friday, amid growing concerns in the United States about drug-related violence in its southern neighbor.

State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said Clinton would visit Mexico City and Monterrey, a prosperous manufacturing and services city close to the U.S. border that was mainly calm in the drug war for most of last year.

But in October, gunmen shot at the U.S. consulate in Monterrey and threw a grenade that did not explode.

Clinton's talks in Mexico would cover the global financial crisis, trade and the war against drugs, as well as the explosion of narcotics-related violence, Duguid said.

Some 7,000 people have been killed since January 2008 in turf battles between rival drug cartels and fights with soldiers sent in by Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

U.S. officials fear the violence is spreading into the southwestern United States, where there have been abductions and execution-style murders tied to the drug trade.

The State Department last month warned U.S. citizens of the recent surge in violence, particularly near the border, and advised traveling only on main roads during daylight, sticking to well-known tourist spots and avoiding areas frequented by prostitutes or drug dealers.

About 90 percent of all cocaine consumed in the United States comes through Mexico from elsewhere in Latin America. Mexico also is a major source of heroin, methamphetamines and marijuana in the United States, according to U.S. Homeland Security officials.