LITTLE PROGRESS AS U.S., MEXICO DISCUSS DRUG CARTELS AND ARMS

CUERNAVACA, Mexico -- Top cabinet officials from the United States
and Mexico met here Thursday to decry the violence unleashed by the
drug cartels, but failed to announce any new bilateral programs to
combat the traffickers.

With U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. sitting at his side
during a news conference, Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina
Mora stated that the two-day meeting devoted to stopping arms
trafficking had produced "an agreement to create a joint working
group that could produce a timely report" -- meaning little progress was made.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has deployed the army to fight
powerful drug cartels that are heavily armed with assault weapons and
grenades -- arms that Mexican officials say come mostly from the
United States. More than 10,100 people, including almost 1,000
soldiers and police officers, have been killed since Calderon
launched the offensive in December 2006.

Mexican officials, including Medina, have blamed loose U.S.
gun-control laws for the weapons smuggled south, and he has
repeatedly called on the United States to pass a ban on assault weapons.

Holder agreed that the "vast majority" of weapons used by the cartels
come from north of the border. "This is a reality we have to face in
the United States," Holder said, adding that the United States is not
seeking to change any of its gun laws to slow weapons smuggling.

"I don't think our Second Amendment will stand in the way of what we
have begun," Holder said.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano also attended the
meeting, where she described the drug smugglers as a "scourge."

On Wednesday, Napolitano announced that the United States would spend
$400 million to improve search and surveillance technologies at U.S.
ports of entry.

Hours before the meeting, the Mexican government announced the arrest
of the young heir to the powerful Juarez cartel, who was captured
while he exercised in a city park in the wealthy neighborhood of Las
Lomas in Mexico City.

Vicente Carrillo Leyva, 32, is the son of Amado Carrillo Fuentes, who
was dubbed "the Lord of the Skies" for his ability to move planes
stuffed with cocaine into Mexico and the United States. The father
died in 1997 while undergoing plastic surgery to disguise his appearance.

Carrillo's neighborhood of walled mansions is home to many of Mexico
City's richest residents -- and Carrillo looked the part when he was
arrested in an Abercrombie NY sweat shirt and square-framed designer
eyeglasses. The narco-scion was reportedly in charge of money
laundering for the cartel.