AREA'S REPS SUPPORT DRUG MORATORIUM

The region's three congressmen supported the House effort to give Mexico
and other nations the benefit of the doubt regarding cooperation with the
United States in the fight against illegal drugs.

As part of a larger bill to fund the State Department, the House on
Wednesday approved a provision to grant a two-year moratorium on the annual
drug certification program. Under the program, the State Department grades
nations on their efforts to assist the U.S. anti-drug war. The nations that
don't comply will not receive U.S. aid.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell had requested the moratorium.

The moratorium was approved on a voice vote, which means a roll call was
not taken and which is a method lawmakers sometimes use to avoid controversy.

Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., chairman of the House Government subcommittee
that deals with drug issues, was outraged.

"Annual drug certification is one of the strongest tools we have as a
nation," Souder said. "Clearly, Americans should not be asked to subsidize
the programs of countries that won't help us stop drug traffickers."

Supporting the moratorium were U.S. Reps. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas; Henry
Bonilla, R-Texas; and Joe Skeen, R-N.M.

"Congressman Reyes has always felt that the U.S. drug certification process
is not conducive to a good working partnership with Mexico," Ashley Atwell,
Reyes' press secretary, said Thursday. From his experience as a former
Border Patrol administrator, "he believes the process was not effective in
reducing the smuggling of narcotics," she added.

Bonilla said: "I find the Mexico certification process counterproductive.
... The current certification process sets up phony targets and creates a
periodic crisis each year. Mexico is only part of the problem. We must
fight the war on drugs on both fronts. Mexico has a long way to go, but we
need to also work on this side of the border to decrease our demand for drugs."

Skeen's spokesman, Paul Ostrowski, said Skeen viewed the bill as
noncontroversial and agreed with the moratorium.

Powell and the Bush administration had lobbied Congress for the moratorium
because they believe drug certification was counterproductive and alienated
U.S. allies, including Mexico.

The Senate is expected to pass the bill. Bush is expected to sign it into law.

Some experts say U.S.-Mexico relations have chilled, mostly because the
White House has not advanced any U.S. immigration changes that Mexican
President Vicente Fox sought early in his administration. Bush is scheduled
to meet with Fox on Oct. 8.

In the past, Mexico has argued that U.S. drug certification is a unilateral
process that is demeaning.

Richard Schwein, a retired FBI agent who worked in El Paso from 1987 to
1994, agreed that the U.S. drug certification did not help drug
investigators at the front lines of the drug war to stop the flow of drugs.

"With or without certification, the drugs keep pouring across," he said.
"We're never going to decertify Mexico, because doing so would cause such a
big stir with our next-door neighbor. The answer to the problem is for
people in this country to stop using drugs, but I don't see that happening
either."

Drug Enforcement Administration officials estimate that about 55 percent of
the cocaine in the United States comes across the U.S.-Mexico border, and
that Mexican-based criminal organizations are the largest distributors of
methamphetamine in the United States.

Mexico's most powerful and extensive drug cartel is based in Juarez. It is
allegedly operated by Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, a man wanted by U.S.
authorities in 10 murders.