WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama plans to visit Mexico this week before attending the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad.
The Obama administration says it's taking steps to provide more assistance to Mexico in its fight against drug violence -- including providing more federal agents to try to stop gun smuggling.
Mexican officials believe that 90 percent of the weapons seized there can be traced to the U.S.
Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan says the key issue right now is how can the U.S. help to shut down those guns.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon in 2006 began a national crackdown on organized crime.
Since then the violence among the drug cartels, their rivals and soldiers have led to nearly 9,000 deaths and crime that has spilled across the border into the U.S.
(Copyright ©2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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