NEW DRUG-WAR TACTIC: TRY MAKING FRIENDS

Warmer Relations Between US And Mexico Have Led To Antidrug Victories.

NUEVO LAREDO, MEXICO - Like many officials whose job it is to ply the
hardscrabble lands of the US-Mexico border, Martin Cuellar Jr. knows a lot
about the bumps on the road to cross-border cooperation.

But like other American officials, both along the border and in Washington,
the south-Texas antinarcotics officer is seeing signs of a smoother ride ahead.

While years of highs and lows in cooperation lead to caution on both sides,
some high-profile action in law enforcement over recent months is feeding
optimism for long-term improvement.

The way Lieutenant Cuellar sees it, his success on the job rides on the
strength of his relationships on the Mexican side. So he's made a habit of
crossing the border to Laredo's twin city in Mexico. There, he might follow
up on a tip from a captain in the federal highway patrol, or share
confidential information with a state police officer. Or the visit might be
more social - like lunch or a pistol-shooting competition with local law
enforcement.

"To do my job as efficiently and as productively as possible, I have to be
in close communication with Mexican police," says Cuellar, head of the
Texas Department of Public Safety's narcotics unit here. "Now we have a
clearer understanding of how they work, and it's making a difference. That
is something we didn't have in the past."

The warmer relations, say many US officials, have happened largely because
of newly elected Mexican President Vicente Fox, who broke 71 years of
one-party rule. Since taking office in December, President Fox has declared
war on corruption and drug trafficking, fired all but two district customs
chiefs, and set up a new organized-crime unit.

"The Fox administration has come out very strongly against drug
traffickers," says Joseph Keefe, the chief of operations for the Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Washington. "And our relationship with
upper management [in Mexican drug-fighting agencies] has been more open and
more straightforward than ever before."

Mexico's new approach is highlighted by the recent bust of a major
cocaine-smuggling operation based in Nuevo Laredo. For the past year and a
half, the DEA has worked closely with a variety of law- enforcement
agencies in Mexico and Colombia. Last month, agents arrested 83 people in
16 US cities. They also identified 14 suspects in Mexico, and Mexican
officials followed up with arrests. DEA agents say that the bust - called
Operation Marquis, after the name of the cartel - was one of the largest of
its kind in recent history.

In the past, when Mexican officials went after one drug cartel, it was
often to protect others. But that seems to be changing, says Mr. Keefe. "To
date, they seem to be going after all the organizations, instead of just
one or two." In addition, the Mexican Supreme Court recently allowed the
country to begin extraditing drug kingpins to the US. Since May, several
key cartel leaders have been extradited to San Diego - the first such
extraditions in Mexico's history.

But while experts agree that new attitudes and strategies in the top
echelons of government are important, it takes local police to implement
them - and that doesn't always happen easily after 71 years.

Take Carlos Ambia Reyes. In his few months as commander of the federal
preventive police in Nuevo Laredo, he has actively policed the drug trade
and make arrests, even within his own department. He has charged gotten rid
of half of his staff, and several are charged with extortion.

Looking over his glasses, Commander Ambia calls the level of cooperation
"excellent, the kind that really hasn't existed in the past."

But Ambia is the kind of paradoxical hero that US law enforcement routinely
encounters. Last year, the federal preventive police accused him of
extortion, and Mexico's National Commission of Human Rights accused him of
human rights abuses in the state of Coahuila, where he served prior to his
posting in Nuevo Laredo. To date, those accusations have not resulted in
any formal action against him. But US officials say that situations like
this are important reminders of the need to build relationships gradually
and keep a certain amount of distance.

Still, US agents can't work too slowly. Mexican officials are transferred
frequently in order to keep police from getting too close to the community
and the drug lords who control much of it.

"It's hard because they change their people so regularly," says Alfonso
Moreno III, head of the Border Patrol's intelligence unit in the Laredo
sector. "Overall, they are always very willing to help. But you build a
relationship with someone, and then they are replaced."

Yet the ties are getting stronger. In addition, US officials have noticed a
willingness among Mexican law enforcement to take part in testing and training.

"They seem to be making an honest effort to improve their image, trying to
emulate what we do on this side," says Jose Flores, the US attorney in
Laredo. His office is prosecuting several "Operation Marquis" arrestees.

Still, he is cautious about the rhetoric, having heard it all before: "Only
in the long run will we know the full effect."