Mexico City ? The United States has spent a fraction of the $1.1 billion it promised Mexico between 2008 and 2010 to make “an immediate and important impact” on surging drug cartel violence, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

Mexican Federal Police stand at attention in the rain after demonstrating an operation to the press during the visit of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., then the Republican presidential candidate, to the Federal Police headquarters July 3, 2008, in the Ixtapalapa section of Mexico City. The United States has spent 14 percent of the .12 billion it promised Mexico between 2008 and 2010 to combat surging drug cartel violence, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

While President Barack Obama and Congress pledged strong, continued support to Mexican President Felipe Calderon in Washington this week, State Department spreadsheets provide the first definitive information about how the United States has — and hasn’t — spent the money pledged by President George W. Bush under the 2007 Merida Initiative.

The records show that in the third year of what was to be a three-year program, Washington is just starting to help Mexico fund its bloody battle. After bureaucratic tie-ups limited spending to $26 million in two years, cash began to flow this year, with $235 million projected by year end, and at least $331 million expected in 2011.

“The leaders of the Mexican military made the point (that) the house is on fire now,” U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said recently after meeting with military counterparts in Mexico. “Having the fire trucks show up in 2012 is not going to be particularly helpful.”

In Washington on Thursday, Calderon asked Congress for “more cooperation” and noted that his own government is sinking $10 billion a year into the battle. The United States has a moral obligation to help more, he argued.

“My neighbor is the biggest consumer of drugs in the world,” he said, “and everyone wants to sell drugs through my window.”

In response, Obama pledged to expedite delivery of several helicopters and to try to get the funds moving. And State Department officials, responding to AP’s queries about the spending, said they hope to fund an additional $50 million in training this year.

It was a tropical spring day in colonial Merida three years ago when Bush and Calderon laughed, slapped backs and announced unspecified intentions to “increase cooperation.” While the leaders made small talk, their advisers plotted out what Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon called an “urgent” aid package that could have “an immediate and important impact in the fight against organized crime.”

Since then, 23,000 people have been killed in Calderon’s battle against the cartels as Mexico waited for U.S. funds.

Obama has agreed to extend Merida at least one more year under a program called “Beyond Merida.” But it’s doubtful top government officials realize how little has been done.

Administration leaders often talk about how the U.S. has sent $1 billion to help Mexico.

Calderon told reporters this week: “We have received about $400 million.”

In fact, it’s $161 million.

That includes $66 million for five rugged Bell helicopters, $2.7 million for four bullet-tracing devices; $2.4 million for 337 lie detector machines and $1.4 million for 13 bulletproof Suburbans. There is also $15 million to train civilian watchdog groups, money laundering investigators and drug-sniffing dog handlers. A prison was revamped with $191,000 in first aid kits, training rifles, defibrillators and a new weight machine.

Adding in all of the $680 million promised so far, the budgets show that spending for 13 helicopters and five airplanes dwarf all other outlays, amounting to $507 million. Some of them won’t get to Mexico until 2014.

The rest of the money — $440 million — remains in federal accounts, unassigned and unspent along with another $200 million allocated beyond the original Merida for 2010.

The holdups are not political. They are bureaucratic.

Merida Initiative funds sit in three accounts, managed by more than a dozen federal agencies, each with unique budget rules. Sometimes letters of offer and letters of acceptance must be signed before checks are written. Other times, requesters must submit spending plans spelling out strategy, goals, actions to be taken and anticipated results.

Both countries agreed that at least initially, the bulk of the funding would go to aircraft, and buying those can be slow: six months to review bids and sign contracts, two years build an airplane with high tech requirements.

Nonetheless, Mexican officials are sanguine.

“The implementation of the Merida Initiative resources are progressing as established by the governments of Mexico and the United States, as the projects have to comply with legal requirements of both countries,” Mexican government officials wrote to AP in response to queries about the spending. “While this can be time-consuming, the results provide transparency in the exercise of spending.”