MEXICO PUSHES U.S. TO HELP FIGHT CRIME

MEXICO CITY -- Mexico is asking the United States to share more
intelligence and ideas for fighting criminal organizations smuggling guns,
drugs and contraband on both sides of the border.

Mexico wants broad cross-border cooperation in "a master plan for the fight
against organized crime, drug trafficking and violence," said Adolfo
Aguilar Zinser, the national security adviser to President Vicente Fox.

"President Fox convinced President Bush to try this" when they met at Fox's
ranch on Feb. 16, Aguilar Zinser said.

He and several other ranking Mexican military, intelligence and law
enforcement officials are to meet today in Washington with Attorney General
John Ashcroft; Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser; and senior
officials of the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the State
Department and the Pentagon.

New York Times News Service