FOX BACKS COLOMBIA'S DRUG BATTLE

BARRANCABERMEJA, Colombia - Leaders of the Western Hemisphere's two
largest illegal drug exporting countries, Colombia and Mexico, joined
forces Friday against a multibillion-dollar drug industry that has
brought violence and corruption to both nations.

The visiting Mexican president, Vicente Fox, also pledged to take a
more active role on behalf of President Andres Pastrana's government
in peace talks with Colombia's largest rebel army, the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Unlike his predecessors, who allowed
the guerrilla army to open offices in Mexico, Fox declared that FARC's
continued presence in Mexico will depend on its commitment to peace
negotiations.

"We have put ourselves at the disposal of President Pastrana and
Colombia to do all we can, when called on, in favor of peace," said
Fox, who recently allowed Mexico's far smaller rebel insurgency to
conduct a nationwide good will tour. "After all, in Mexico we are in
the same place: Looking for peace and looking for a way that all
families can live in peace."

While mostly symbolic, Fox's unabashed support for Pastrana comes at
an important moment for the Colombian president, whose peace efforts
after four decades of civil war have yet to yield results. Fox's
highly public agenda Friday in the capital, Bogota, also seemed to
underscore his goal of establishing Mexican influence in Latin
American politics and commerce.

Fox is scheduled to travel with Pastrana to Venezuela today to visit
President Hugo Chavez. The goal is to rejuvenate the largely moribund
Group of Three, made up of the largest oil-exporting countries in
Latin America, with an eye toward a coordinated economic agenda.

Fox has long supported the peace efforts deployed by Pastrana, who was
elected in 1998 on a pledge to bring peace to Colombia. Friday marked
his first public warning to the FARC, however.

"The message for the FARC is clear: Sit down to negotiate and work for
peace. If not, you are not going to have good standing nor the
attention of Mexico," Fox said in an interview published Friday.

Perhaps the most tangible result of Fox's visit was the pledge to
cooperate against drug trafficking. In recent months, evidence has
emerged that the FARC, which helps fund its army by taxing the
domestic drug market, is trying to enter the more lucrative exporting
end of the business.

Colombian news reports have described contacts between FARC leaders
and members of Mexico's most powerful exporting cartel, based in
Tijuana. Colombia accounts for roughly 90 percent of the world's
cocaine supply, most of it passing through Mexico on its way to the
United States.

Pastrana and Fox agreed to establish a task force made up of each
country's top law enforcement, justice and security officials. The
first meeting of the group, charged with coordinating efforts to stop
the export of cocaine, is scheduled for May in Mexico City.