RELATIVES ASK ABOUT STALLED INQUIRY; AN FBI AGENT IS PRESSED ABOUT THE
SEARCH FOR VICTIMS OF DRUG VIOLENCE ALONG THE BORDER.

EL PASO -- Almost a year after a massive U.S.-Mexican search at a ranch
that was purported to hold the bodies of more than 100 Americans and
Mexicans killed by drug traffickers, relatives of the missing are pressing
authorities for answers about the stalled investigation.

On behalf of the relatives of as many as 200 U.S. and Mexican citizens
missing along the border, an international human rights group has written a
letter to Edmundo Guevara, El Paso's top FBI agent.

"Your total silence on this tragedy hurts a lot of people. No one expects
you to tell us secrets ... just to know that your office recognizes the
[scope] of the tragedy," reads the letter from the Association of Relatives
& Friends of Disappeared Persons, the El Paso Times reported Sunday.

Relatives of the missing said they are puzzled that investigators have not
followed leads on other possible secret graves and why no Mexican police,
who are believed to have aided drug runners in the killings, have been
arrested.

In November 1999, authorities converged at La Campana ranch in Ciudad
Juarez, across the border from El Paso, as rumors circulated that drug
traffickers had buried as many as 200 victims there, including 18 to 22
U.S. citizens.

Many residents on both sides of the border hoped that the ranch would offer
answers about what happened to relatives missing for years. Instead, they
were left with more questions when the two-month investigation ended Jan.
20 and authorities had turned up nine bodies -- including four of victims
from El Paso -- and a drug laboratory at three sites.

Five suspects were detained, and in September, U.S. authorities obtained an
indictment of Vicente Carrillo Fuentes in connection with the bodies
uncovered in the secret graves. Carrillo, alleged to be a drug kingpin, has
not been arrested.

Guevara said the protesters were directing their questions to the wrong
side of the border.

"There are sovereignty issues. I can't go across the border. ... We
assisted the Mexican government, and our role in that concluded," Guevara said.

"There nothing the FBI can do except give the Mexican government the
information," Guevara said, adding that Mexican authorities have indicated
that President Vicente Fox's new administration will continue the
investigation.

Mexican investigators under outgoing Mexican Attorney General Jorge Madrazo
said recently that they plan to continue working on the cases.

Jose Larrieta, a top Mexican federal investigator, said his staff was
looking into leads but that search warrants have not been executed.

Outgoing U.S. drug czar Barry McCaffrey said he has turned over the
information regarding the 22 U.S. citizens believed missing to the U.S.
Justice Department.