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Vice President Biden

March 5, 2012 by · Comments Off on Vice President Biden 

Vice President Biden, Confronting cartel violence and combating drug smuggling along the Southwest border will top the list of security concerns that Vice President Joe Biden will discuss today in Mexico City with President Felipe Calderon and three presidential candidates.

Biden will meet with Calderon before traveling on to Honduras to meet with Central American leaders during a two-day trip, White House officials said.

While in Mexico, Biden will also meet with presidential candidates from the country’s three major political parties seeking to succeed Calderon when his six-year term ends this year.

Biden wants to hear from each candidate on “how they would lead the country and the concerns that they see the Mexican people having,” said Tony Blinkin, national security advisor to the vice president.

“It’s also to reaffirm to them the commitment of the United States to work closely with whomever Mexico elects in the presidential contest,” Blinkin said.

The election is July 1. Calderon will leave office and a new president will take over Dec. 1.

Biden will speak with Calderon about the ongoing U.S.-backed Mexican military effort against the drug cartels that have lead to an increase in violence in Mexico and an escalation of fear in American border cities and states.

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