POWELL, MEXICAN SET STAGE FOR BUSH VISIT

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Mexican Secretary of Foreign
Relations Jorge Castaneda agreed yesterday to support a peaceful settlement
between the Colombian government and rebel forces, but they differed over
the U.S. insistence on keeping strict sanctions on Cuba.

Meeting two weeks before President Bush is scheduled to visit Mexican
President Vicente Fox in Bush's first foreign trip as president, Powell and
Castaneda also agreed to work toward reducing the number of deaths along
the U.S.-Mexico border.

"The message sent by President Bush . . . by having decided to take his
first trip abroad to Mexico. . . . to visit President Fox in his hometown
is a message that is being very, very well received in Mexico and
throughout Latin America," Castaneda said.

Meanwhile, members of Congress moved to remove an irritant in U.S.-Mexican
relations. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) said he will introduce a
measure to suspend the annual process under which the United States is
required to assess Mexico's performance in combating drug trafficking. The
proposal will be co-sponsored by Sens. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), John McCain
(R-Ariz.), and Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.).

The main note of discord between Powell and his Mexican counterpart came on
Cuba. Powell said the Bush administration wants to keep the sanctions on,
while Castaneda said Mexico would "strengthen ties of an economic,
financial, touristical nature with Cuba."

Powell said, "We will continue to pursue our relations with Cuba in a way
that lets Mr. Castro know that we disapprove of his regime. . . . We will
only participate in those activities with Cuba that benefit the people
directly and not the government."

Dodd's measure on drug certification not only addresses a Mexican concern
about U.S. foreign policy, but it also responds to a request Powell made
during his Senate confirmation hearings that the number of sanctions and
certifications be reduced. Under the process, U.S. economic sanctions
against Mexico are imposed if it is not certified.

Congress mandated the annual drug certification procedure for Mexico in
1986, the year after corrupt Mexican officials played a role in the torture
and murder of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent. Concerns have
continued about drug trafficking and corruption in Mexico, a major point
for shipping illegal narcotics to the United States.

According to the State Department, Mexican government authorities have
seized a record amount of drugs over the past few years. Marijuana and
heroin seizures in 2000 increased by 50 percent and 61 percent
respectively, while cocaine seizures declined 34 percent from the previous
year.

Powell and Castaneda also discussed the deaths of Mexicans who try to cross
into the United States. Castaneda said "there are too many Mexicans dying
on the border -- Mexicans who die of exposure, dehydration, starvation;
some, unfortunately, who die as a result of hostile acts on the part of some."

Powell said that with more than a million people crossing the border every
day to work, study and visit, and with Mexico having grown into the
second-largest trading partner of the United States (after Canada), it is
important to ease tensions on the border.

But he added, "The thing that really has to be done to solve this problem
is to continue to help the Mexican economy grow, so that jobs are in the
South, so that the great magnet is no longer just in the North, but it is
also within Mexico."

Powell and Castaneda agreed on support for Colombian negotiations to end
fighting with rebels and curtail the illicit drug business there. Powell
reaffirmed the Bush administration's support of Plan Colombia, a Clinton
administration plan to provide $1.3 billion in U.S. support for building
the Colombian military and introducing spraying and crop substitution
programs to erode the narcotics trafficking there.

"With respect to the [political] insurgency," Powell said, "at the end of
the day that will only be solved by a political solution, by negotiations."
He added, "I don't think there is a military solution to the insurgency
problem." He said he hoped Fox would assist in bringing about a political
solution.