Mérida Initiative

The Mérida Initiative (named after Mérida, the city where it was agreed upon), also called Plan Mexico (in reference to Plan Colombia), is a security cooperation agreement among the United States, the government of Mexico, and the countries of Central America. With the declared aim of combating the threats of drug trafficking, transnational organized crime and money laundering, assistance between the countries includes training, equipment and intelligence.

In seeking partnership with the United States, Mexican officials point out that the illicit drug trade is a shared problem in need of a shared solution and remark that most of the financing for the Mexican traffickers comes from American drug consumers. U.S. law enforcement officials estimate that US$12 to 15 billion per year flows from the United States to the Mexican traffickers and that is just in cash and excludes the money sent by wire transfers. Other government agencies, including the Government Accountability Office and the National Drug Intelligence Center, have estimated that Mexico's cartels earn upwards of $23 billion per year in illicit drug revenue from the United States.

U.S. State Department officials were aware that former Mexican President Felipe Calderón's willingness to work with the United States was unprecedented on issues of security, crime and drugs. The initiative was announced on 22 October 2007 and signed into law on June 30, 2008. As of March 2017, $1.6 billion of Mérida assistance had been delivered to Mexico, including 22 aircraft.