Mexican President Vows to Win Drug War

April 15, 2009— -- Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who is fighting a raging war against the drug cartels threatening the stability of his country, declared in an ABC News interview: "We will win ... I'm sure about that."

Calderon, 46, will host President Barack Obama for two days in Mexico City beginning tomorrow. It's the first visit by an American president to the teeming capital of 20-plus million people in 12 years.

In the ABC News interview, Calderon admitted that Mexico faces serious challenges in stemming drug-related violence, but he adamantly rejected the notion -- advanced in a Pentagon report in December and echoed by some analysts -- that his country is on the verge of becoming a failed state.

"Absolutely not," Calderon said. "Mexico is not a failed state. It's a very serious, I need to say, an expression that in that moment caused serious damage to the image of Mexico. But finally, in my opinion, it's absolutely clear that Mexico -- it's a state that's working. It's working in order to improve the quality of life of our people. And we are moving ahead on that."

Calderon was frank in fixing some of the blame for the violence and crime in his country on the voracious demand for drugs in the U.S. -- and on American gun sales. Mexican authorities say 90 percent of the weapons seized in Mexican criminal investigations were purchased in the U.S. and smuggled over the border.

"Of course we have a problem, and the roots of that problem are related with drugs, with the consumption of drugs in the United States or with the supply of weapons," he said. "But my idea is not to blame the United States all the time, my idea is to talk about that, we need to realize and recognize that this is a common problem and we need to solve our common problem, we need to think with the way that together we are more powerful than any criminal organizations."

The Mexican president argued that the killing in his country increased sharply in 2004, when the ban on the sale of assault weapons in America expired. He suggested the ban should be renewed.