DRUG WAR INROAD PRAISED BY U.S.

MEXICO CITY - Asa Hutchinson said he's encouraged by the cooperation
he sees from Mexico in the war on drugs. But the director of the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration said plenty of obstacles, such as a
recent judicial block on certain extraditions, require more
discussion.

"It is clear that we have to work closely with our partners at the
international level," Hutchinson said at a news conference last week
after meeting with Mexico Attorney General Rafael Macedo de la
Concha. "President Bush has set an example of friendship with
Mexico's government through his personal relationship with President
Vicente Fox."

Named to head DEA last August, Hutchinson said he was heartened by
the pace at which American and Mexican law enforcement agents are
exchanging intelligence on drug operations, crediting it with
generating more arrests in the drug-cartel hierarchy.

In particular, he pointed to the three-year Operation Landslide,
conducted jointly between Mexico and the United States, in which
Mexican intelligence led to the arrests in November of more than 70
people in both countries, principally in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The bust netted 782 pounds of black tar heroin, a drug some officials
believe is replacing cocaine as the smuggler's choice in the Mexican
cartels. Usually, heroin is smuggled in small packets of less than 5
pounds.

Hutchinson pledged more arrests and joint operations to go after the
traffickers.

"We must pursue these narcotics-trafficking organizations in the
United States as well as in Mexico, but we also have the
responsibility to reduce the demand for drugs," he said. "We are not
just applying our own laws and looking for international cooperation
to go after these drug traffickers."

Macedo de la Concha said drug traffic into the United States since
the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks seems to have switched from land
routes across the U.S.-Mexican border to sea routes in the Caribbean
and the Pacific, partly in response to beefed up security.

He said the Mexican army and navy may be in for a larger role in
fighting the traffic off its shores, and U.S.-Mexican cooperation
will be crucial.

Hutchinson praised Macedo de la Concha for reorganizing the Mexican
attorney general's office (PGR), to which he was named by President
Fox. A former military prosecutor, Macedo de la Concha has, among
other things, named a new prosecutor for human rights violations and
created the Federal Agency for Investigations, meant to be a
counterpart to the FBI.

When the questions at the news conference turned to specific drug
issues, the smiles turned tight and the answers vague.

Hutchinson said a decision by the Mexican Supreme Court to block
extraditions of Mexican fugitives who might face life in prison is
unfortunate, but the United States will continue negotiating to make
them happen.

During previous administrations, Mexico's policy was to fight most
extraditions and prevent those in which the accused might face the
death penalty. There is no legal death penalty in Mexico's justice
system. The court decision in January went a step further,
prohibiting the extradition of Agustin Vazquez Mendoza, a fugitive
wanted in the 1994 slaying of a drug enforcement agent in Arizona.
Vazquez Mendoza was arrested in Mexico in July 2000, but the court
barred his extradition because he might face life in prison. Mexican
law does not include such a punishment.

The United States also wants to extradite Mario Villanueva, former
governor of Quintana Roo state, who faces charges in Mexico of
profiting from drug trafficking and in the United States of helping
smuggle Colombian cocaine. Extradition would make Villanueva the
highest-ranking Mexican official in U.S. custody.

U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Davidow, at an appearance during Arizona Gov.
Jane Hull's recent trade trip to Mexico, suggested that Mexican
jurists might allow extraditions if the accused face long sentences,
rather than life.

Drug cartels are lashing back at the pressure arising from both
countries' cooperation. In November, federal magistrates Benito
Andrade Ibarra and Jesus Alberto Ayala, were gunned down in car.
Ayala's wife was killed. Officials believe the two were targeted
because they refused to block an arrest warrant for Tijuana drug
kingpin Francisco Arellano Felix.

Last week, Mario Roldan Quirinos, a high-ranking member of the PGR's
anti-drug special prosecutor's office, was ambushed in his car and
killed not far from his home in Mexico City. City officials believe
Roldan Quirinos was a target because of his job.