ALLEGED PLOT STIRS MEXICO

The recent disclosure that an FBI informant warned that the Juarez drug
cartel wanted to kill Chihuahua Gov. Patricio Martinez has set off a
political storm.

Shortly after Martinez was shot Jan. 17, Mexican President Vicente Fox told
reporters that drug dealers were behind the attempt.

Back then, Chihuahua state officials said that was news to them. They said
Victoria Loya, who was arrested in connection with the shooting, acted alone.

Last week, Martinez made public the FBI information. For this, the
governor, who belongs to the Institutional Revolutionary Party, was
castigated by opposition party leaders in his state's legislature. They
challenged him to come up with proof of such a plot.

In full-page ads in Sunday's Diario de Juarez and Norte newspapers, the
opposition National Action Party contends the plot is a scheme Martinez
came up with to ingratiate himself with constituents. The ad calls on
Chihuahua residents to reject it.

The FBI memo

Martinez said he got wind of the FBI's information after someone leaked it
to reporters in Mexico City last week. He complained that Mexican federal
authorities never told him about it.

The FBI memo also is explosive because it names several people in Mexican
law enforcement who, it alleges, are part of a hit squad for the Vicente
Carrillo Fuentes drug cartel. The memo does not say whether these people
had anything to do with Martinez's attack.

According to the memo, an informant told the FBI in El Paso "that Vicente
Carrillo Fuentes wanted to assassinate Patricio-Martinez." The FBI passed
the information to Mexican federal investigator Miguel Aragon on Jan. 17,
the same day Martinez was shot. The FBI followed up with a written memo
Jan. 30.

Former officers

The FBI memo alleges that Saul D. Licona Hernandez and Carlos Armendariz
work for the Juarez drug cartel. Although it identifies them as former city
police, Mexican officials said they are former Chihuahua state policemen
who might be living in El Paso. The memo also names Luis Artiaga Hernandez
and Ruben Saldano as suspects and former police officers.

Loya, who's suspected of shooting Martinez, is also a former Chihuahua
state police officer. She has denied that she shot Martinez and denied
carrying a gun the day of the attack, according to news accounts.

Last week, Martinez's staff said someone is trying to hush up Loya. They
said someone was trying to help Loya escape by having her feign illness so
she could be sent to a hospital. Once there, friends would spring her loose.

Chihuahua state officials said they found capsules containing liquid
mercury in Loya's cell. They also said she would have died from mercury
poisoning had she swallowed them.

Martinez plans to meet later this week with Fox to discuss the issue.