EXTRADITE PAEZ

Feinstein's Appeal Shows Leadership

Short of apprehending Tijuana cartel leaders Benjamin and Ramon Arellano
Felix, the current top priority for U.S. law enforcement agencies fighting
narco-trafficking along the border is the extradition from Mexico of
accused drug kingpin Everardo Arturo Paez Martinez.

Kudos, then, to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., for showing leadership on
this critically important matter.

Paez has been under federal indictment here since 1997 on multiple drug
trafficking charges. He is formally charged with conspiring to smuggle and
distribute more than a ton of cocaine in the United States from Mexico.
U.S. officials believe Paez's actual total of cocaine smuggled into the
United States from 1988 to 1996 was more like 20 tons.

Moreover, there is abundant evidence that Paez was also a key lieutenant in
the Arellano Felix Organization, a.k.a. the Tijuana cartel. Paez's
extradition would make him the highest-ranking AFO figure in U.S. custody
and the most important AFO member prosecuted and tried in the United States.

The law enforcement dividends to be obtained by trying and convicting Paez
on this side of the border are potentially immense. For starters, a
cooperating Paez likely could provide vital information and testimony
against his former associates in the Arellano Felix Organization, including
brothers Benjamin and Ramon.

But none of this can happen unless Paez is, in fact, extradited -- turned
over by the Mexican government to stand trial in the United States.

The Mexican supreme court ruled in favor of Paez's extradition last January
in a 10-1 decision. Mexico's new president, Vicente Fox, and its previous
president, Ernesto Zedillo, both are on record favoring Paez's extradition.
Yet, three months have gone by with no definitive report from Mexico on
Paez's presumably pending extradition.

Enter Sen. Feinstein. In a letter dated April 17, Feinstein appealed to
President Fox to assist personally in arranging Paez's prompt extradition.
"I believe the extradition of Mr. Paez to face justice in the United States
for the crimes on which he has been indicted would represent a serious blow
to the power of the drug cartels," Feinstein wrote. Exactly so.

Paez's extradition also would constitute a resounding signal of increased
Mexican cooperation with the United States in fighting the vicious
narco-trafficking syndicates that prey on both countries. Fox has pledged
that cooperation. Delivering Paez would be a major down payment on
redeeming that promise.

We trust that Feinstein, who is respected in Washington and a leader on the
drug issue, will be heard in Mexico City. Her appeal for Arturo Paez's
extradition should now be joined by others in the U.S. Congress and,
urgently, by the Bush administration.