Mexico to get anti-crime boost

Leaders at the Summit of the Americas agreed Sunday to set up a regional centre in Mexico to fight organised crime, Mexican President Felipe Calderon said. "Mexico proposed, and the summit agreed, to create an inter-American system against organised crime" before the end of the year, he told a press conference at the end of the summit which he viewed as a "success" despite the failure to issue a final statement. No final statement was issued because leaders failed to agree on Cuba's inclusion at future summits in the face of US and Canadian opposition. The vast majority of the region's democratically elected leaders attending the talks in the coastal Colombian city of Cartagena want Cuba -- the Americas' only one-party Communist state -- to be included in future meetings. But US President Barack Obama, backed by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, says Havana lacks democratic credentials to attend. Calderon said the proposal for the centre received the "unanimous support"of all participants. Mexico is one the countries hardest hit by organised crime in the hemisphere, particularly by the drug cartels which are blamed for the wave of violence that has claimed more than 50,000 lives in five years. "We are going to create the centre, we are going to invite the countries, we are going to organise the meetings and give the technical followup," Calderon said. The proposed centre follows another agreement to launch a study in the Americas on results of the current US-led drug war strategy and to explore new approaches and alternatives. Calderon welcomed US President Barack Obama's willingness to listen to the debate. He saw the summit as a major step in the recognition of the joint responsibility by drug-consuming countries, particularly the United States, in the violence from drug trafficking. He said the main theme of the summit was "how to connect to develop" and reiterated that he viewed the meeting as "a success."