US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with her Canadian and Mexican counterparts Peter MacKay and Patricia Espinosa in Ottawa Feb. 23 for a summit of the North American Security and Prosperity Initiative (NASPI, or ASPAN by its Spanish acronym), which was launched at a March 2006 conference in Cancun. Coordinated response to narco-trafficking, organized crime and terrorism topped the agenda, under the catch-phrase "secure and intelligent borders." Presidents Bush and Felipe Calderón are to meet to discuss the program with Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Canada this August. (Notimex, Feb. 24)

See our last posts on Mexico, Canada, NAFTA and the militarization of NAFTA.