MEXICO MIGHT HAVE U.S. TO THANK IF BIG DRUG ARRESTS ARE MADE

WASHINGTON -- Recently, Mexican authorities vowed they would try to capture
the remaining leaders of the Arellano-Felix cartel before President Ernesto
Zedillo leaves office Dec. 1.

If arrests are made with time running out, it is likely that U.S.
intelligence will play a role, law enforcement sources said.

Mexico is keenly protective of its sovereign authority. Over the past
several years, however, Mexico has quietly reached out to U.S. intelligence
agencies -- including the Central Intelligence Agency -- for help in the
fight against narcotics traffickers, law enforcement authorities said.

The partnership is fraught with political sensitivity. But analysts say the
cooperation apparently began in earnest in the mid-1990s as more and more
drugs began to flow across the border. In response, the Zedillo and Clinton
administrations began to share intelligence and pool military resources in
hopes of beating back the cartels.

"Mexico crossed a psycho-cultural Rubicon when it began
military-to-military cooperation with the United States in 1995," said
Delal Baer, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International
Studies. "The training of Mexican troops and officers in the United States
would have been utterly inconceivable a few short years ago."

Earlier this year, information obtained by the Central Intelligence Agency
was credited with helping Mexican military authorities arrest key
Arellano-Felix cartel members, sources said. (Like others interviewed for
this story, they spoke on condition they not be identified because of the
sensitive and classified nature of the topic.)

Since the mid-1990s, the CIA also has provided information that led to
various raids over the years targeting the Tijuana-based cartel, officials
said.

Mexican civilian and military intelligence officers tracked down Ismael
Higuera Guerrero, who was the cartel's operations director until his arrest
May 3. The CIA and other U.S. law enforcement authorities, particularly the
Drug Enforcement Administration, provided information leading to the
arrest, sources said.

A second key lieutenant, Jesus "Chuy" Labra Aviles, described as the
Arellano-Felix cartel's financial mastermind, also was arrested last spring.

Still at large: the top leaders of the cartel, brothers Ramon and Benjamin
Arellano Felix. Ramon Arellano Felix has been on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted
List for three years.

In a recent interview, U.S. drug czar Barry McCaffrey said those arrests
were "probably more important than the . . . brothers; these are dangerous
people. They picked it up without a huge gunfight."

McCaffrey said the CIA "essentially coordinates inter-agency operations."

"We have found always to creatively share intelligence with Mexican
authorities," McCaffrey said. "We keep hearing stories in public about
corruption, do we trust each other? The answer is we are working effectively."

Not everyone agrees.

Over the years, each country has mistrusted the other, resulting in an
uneven record of sharing intelligence, analysts said.

U.S. law enforcement officials say the U.S. effort has been compromised, in
part, by conflicting missions between the Drug Enforcement Administration
and the CIA.