Obama to meet leaders of Canada and Mexico

MEXICO CITY (AP) — President Barack Obama meets this weekend with leaders of Mexico and Canada at a time when drug-related violence, swine flu and the economic crisis are slipping across North America’s borders like never before.

Obama, along with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, are expected to work on trade and immigration, drug trafficking and security, and clean energy during their first summit Sunday and Monday in the western colonial city of Guadalajara.

“The bottom line is that what affects our bordering neighbors has the potential to affect us all, so we want to be certain that we have the tightest and best possible cooperation,” said National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones during a White House briefing with the news media.

For Mexico, the North American Leaders Summit comes at a crucial time: Washington is debating whether to withhold money to help fight Mexico’s powerful drug cartels due to allegations of human rights abuses by the Mexican military.

International human rights groups, including the World Organization Against Torture, want Mexico to try soldiers in civil courts, something Calderon so far has appeared reluctant to do.

Mexican communities are living under siege with dozens of cartel-related killings each month. U.S. Justice Department officials say as many as 230 U.S. cities have been infiltrated by Mexican cartels.

Drug dealing is also soaring in Canada. While the country’s gang problems pale in comparison to Mexico’s, the city of Vancouver — once known as the world’s safest — has seen dozens of drug gang-related killings in the past two years.