Amid a drug war and trade dispute, US President Barack Obama will visit Mexico on April 16. Obama is currently studying a possible military deployment on the US-Mexico border to help solve the problems of escalating drug-related violence, particularly in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico where Mexican President Felipe Calderon has already sent 11,000 troops composed of military and police forces.

Mexico’s drug war that recorded about six thousand deaths last year alone has become a major threat to national security. The Obama government is preparing a new strategy to help the US’ southern neighbor. Some of the most immediate measures are the stopping of the flow of billions of US dollars in drug money and the trade into Mexico of high-caliber weapons that only aid the escalating violence along the border.

With the collaboration among several government agencies, greater control can be established against smuggling via the flow of people and vehicles that daily cross the border into Mexico. According to authorities, drug traffickers in Mexico now have connections to at least 230 US cities.

At the border, the US Department of Defense is already using technology perfected on the war fronts in Iraq and Afghanistan, including surveillance systems, robotic aircraft and locating sensors. To augment the efforts, Obama is considering the possibility of deploying military units on the border with Mexico.

The US and Mexico are currently locked in a trade dispute under the NAFTA. Mexico is preparing to criminalize the entry of a number of American products in retaliation to the restrictions faced by Mexicans in the transport of goods by road.

Mexico’s Calderon has blamed the massive drug trade in his country on the huge consumption of illegal drugs in the US.

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Via CBS NEWS