U.S. CASTS ITS DRUG NET SOUTH

He presided over paradise. He landed in prison. Now Mario Villanueva has
become a kind of poster boy for Mexican President Vicente Fox's crackdown
on drug traffickers.

"If he is extraditable, he will be extradited," Mr. Fox said, signalling
that he wouldn't be sorry to see the former governor of the sun-soaked
Quintana Roo state whisked away to face cocaine-smuggling charges in the
United States.

Mr. Villanueva, whose territory included the lavish foreigner-friendly
resorts of Cancun, is accused in Mexico and New York state of allowing the
notorious Juarez drug ring to ship 180 tonnes of Colombian cocaine to the
United States.

His capture in Cancun last month was the latest in a series of highly
publicized arrests of alleged major traffickers in Mexico, which U.S.
officials say is the transit route for half the cocaine arriving from South
America.

More could be on the way. In 20 cities yestersday, U.S. law-enforcement
agencies arrested 76 people accused of distributing Juarez-organization
cocaine, and said they have asked their Mexican counterparts to round up 14
others.

But despite Mr. Fox's enthusiasm, officials and observers of the narcotics
trade say it could be years before Mr. Villanueva is delivered into U.S.
custody - if it happens at all.

He is likely to be tried first in Mexico, where defence lawyers are adept
at winning bail, light sentences or outright freedom for high-profile
prisoners.

And a former state governor who may retain powerful political connections,
even with a party now in opposition at the national level, may not be the
best guinea pig for a get-tough policy on extradition.

"Where there is a possibility of extradition, I think the Fox government is
going to look twice, if not three times," said Bruce Bagley, a University
of Miami political scientist and expert on the Latin American drug trade.

Extradition is a long-standing sore point for many Latin Americans who
believe their compatriots are unlikely to get fair treatment in U.S. courts.

Lawyers for accused traffickers frequently make that argument, said Eduardo
Pena Haller, director-general of legal affairs in the Mexican Foreign
Ministry. "They tell me the system there will be terrible for their
clients, that because they're Mexicans, they will be treated unjustly," he
said.

Mexican governments observed a de facto moratorium on extraditing Mexican
citizens for most of the last century, Mr. Pena said. It resumed in 1996,
after Mexican traffickers became heavily involved in shipping South
American drugs to the United States.

Extradition received a boost in January when Mexico's Supreme Court ruled
that the government has the power to make final decisions on requests from
foreign countries. In practice, these are approved by Mr. Fox's Foreign
Minister, Jorge Castaneda.

About 370 U.S. extradition requests are pending, including 25 filed this
year, Mr. Pena said. Three requests from Canada are also outstanding.

This year, 14 Mexicans have been extradited to several countries, most to
face murder or drug-related charges. They include Everardo Arturo (Kitty)
Paez Martinez, allegedly a key member of a Tijuana-based drug syndicate,
who appeared in a San Diego court last month on cocaine-trafficking and
money-laundering charges.

Mr. Paez faced no charges in Mexico, so he was more vulnerable than Mr.
Villanueva to extradition.

Drug barons in Colombia feared extradition so greatly that they unleashed a
campaign of terror against the practice in the late 1980s, bombing
airplanes and office buildings.

Prof. Bagley said Mexican traffickers are unlikely to mount a similar
campaign, but they could carry out some form of targeted reprisals.

"You're much more likely to see an initial reaction against police chiefs,
judges and government officials," he said.

Mr. Fox promised closer co-operation with the United States and a sweeping
overhaul of police and investigative agencies after his election last year
ended the 71-year grip of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) on
Mexico's presidency.

He placed an army general, Rafael Macedo de la Concha, in charge of the
federal prosecutor's office. In April, a general and two other army
officers were arrested and charged with providing protection for the
Tijuana drug ring.

Accused methamphetamine magnate Adan Amezcua was picked up last month on
money-laundering charges. U.S. extradition requests are pending for his two
jailed brothers.

"There has been constant combat," said Guadalupe Gonzalez, a specialist on
politics and the drug trade at the Centre for Economic Research and
Teaching in Mexico City. "There have been many arrests. . . . They have hit
all the cartels, which is very important."

There have also been setbacks - notably the dramatic escape from prison of
alleged drug kingpin Joaquin (El Chapo) Guzman from a high-security jail.
Tightening up prison administration is "proceeding at a different pace,"
Prof. Gonzalez said.

Mr. Villanueva, a PRI stalwart in a country where the party ruled almost
unchallenged for six decades, was nabbed in Cancun on May 25. He had
dropped from sight in 1999, shortly before his six-year term as governor
expired.

His arrest was followed last week by the capture of Alcides Ramon Magana,
allegedly the Juarez cartel leader who paid Mr. Villanueva the equivalent
of $750,000 for each cocaine shipment passing through Quintana Roo.

The U.S. arrests announced yesterday were of people who worked with Mr.
Magana, said Rod Benson, assistant special agent for the Drug Enforcement
Administration in Washington.

He said U.S. authorities intend to seek extradition of Mr. Magana and the
14 Mexicans linked to yesterday's arrests. But Mr. Pena said no request has
yet been received for Mr. Villanueva or Mr. Magana.

In theory, either could fall under a 1997 U.S.-Mexico "temporary
extradition protocol" that took effect earlier this month.

Under it, a prisoner could be tried in a Mexican court, sent to the United
States to face different charges, returned to Mexico to complete the
sentence imposed, then sent to the United States again for further jail time.

The apparently cumbersome process is aimed at keeping open the possibility
of trying prisoners in the United States while evidence is still fresh.