President Felipe Calderon

The U.S. ambassador to Mexico resigned Saturday after angering Mexican President Felipe Calderon over leaked diplomatic cables that bluntly described shortcomings in Mexico's 4-year-old war on drug cartels. Carlos Pascual, a veteran diplomat who arrived in Mexico in 2009, helped retool U.S. aid in the drug war to place greater emphasis on improving judicial institutions and civic involvement than on weaponry. But the embassy's analyses in confidential cables of Mexico's military-led drug strategy, which included praise but noted interagency rivalries and called the Mexican army "risk averse," raised hackles.

President Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon announced Thursday that they had resolved a long-running dispute over the passage of trucks across the U.S.-Mexican frontier, offering a brief moment of harmony at a time of tensions over the flow of drugs and guns across the same border. Reached at a summit in Washington, the agreement allowing Mexican trucks to operate in the United States was cheered by business leaders who say the dispute hurt trade. But union leaders and many Democrats fear that a free flow of trucks from Mexico will come at the expense of the U.S. trucking industry and the jobs it provides.

Maybe it was all talk. Radio anchor Carmen Aristegui, one of the best-known news personalities in Mexico, has been rehired by the broadcaster that dropped her after she called on President Felipe Calderon to answer unsubstantiated rumors about his drinking. Aristegui and MVS Communications issued a joint announcement Tuesday saying she would be back on her morning news show next week. Aristegui's dismissal last week ignited protests by fans and stirred debate over press liberties and journalistic responsibility in Mexico's evolving democracy.

Carmen Aristegui, one of Mexico's best-known news hosts, likes to stir the pot. But did she go too far by saying the president should answer unsubstantiated rumors of a drinking problem? Aristegui, a veteran anchor on radio and television, was fired after telling her audience last week that President Felipe Calderon should respond formally to leftist lawmakers who hoisted a banner in Congress calling him a "drunk. " Those lawmakers offered no proof, and Calderon's public conduct has never suggested inebriation.

During a one-day trip south of the border, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday lauded Mexico for battling drug cartels she once compared to an insurgency. Clinton said President Felipe Calderon has been "courageous" in shouldering his share of the two nations' battle against cross-border criminal networks. "This is very hard, and what President Calderon has done is absolutely necessary," Clinton said after meeting with Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa in Guanajuato, a colonial-era mining city.

In contrast to their upbeat public assessments, U.S. officials expressed frustration with a "risk averse" Mexican army and rivalries among security agencies that have hampered the Mexican government's war against drug cartels, according to secret U.S. diplomatic cables disclosed Thursday. The cables quoted Mexican officials expressing fear that the government was losing control of parts of its national territory and that time was "running out" to rein in drug violence. The cables gave a much starker view of the pitfalls and obstacles facing Mexican President Felipe Calderon, a departure from the public statements of unwavering support that have come out of Washington for most of the 4-year-old war, which has claimed more than 30,000 lives.

When he was the ruthless military commander of El Salvador's leftist guerrillas two decades ago, Joaquin Villalobos was a big fan of body counts. The higher the death toll, he would say, the closer to victory, because it meant the enemy was being eliminated. Today, the man U.S. officials once called "the baby-faced killer" has emerged somewhat improbably as one of the key advisors behind conservative Mexican President Felipe Calderon's military crackdown on powerful drug cartels.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Monday sent Congress a proposal that would require troops to be tried in civilian courts for certain human rights abuses, such as torture. The proposed change is the Calderon administration's most sweeping response to persistent complaints about excesses by Mexico's military, which has been deployed around the country as part of the government's crackdown against violent drug cartels. Though the measure was expected, the move represents a significant concession by the military establishment, which has long resisted efforts to allow troops to be tried in civilian courts.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon strongly opposes the California ballot measure that would legalize small amounts of marijuana, saying it reflects softening attitudes toward drug consumption in the U.S. that are undercutting efforts to control organized crime groups in Mexico. Calderon, in an interview in Tijuana, said he was disappointed that the U.S. federal government, which for years has pushed Mexico to crack down on drug traffickers, has not done more to oppose the measure.

Amid a bloody war against drug cartels, Mexican President Felipe Calderon said Wednesday that he was sending Congress a plan to overhaul the country's police system by doing away with local forces, long a weak link in law enforcement. The proposed reform, which would require amending the Mexican Constitution, would eliminate the nation's 2,000 municipal departments, where officers tend to be undertrained and ill-paid and are seen as vulnerable to corruption by criminal groups. Patrol duties in towns and cities would be taken over by the 31 states.