MEXICO-COLOMBIA PACT TARGETS DRUGS

A Latin Assault On Narcotics

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Mexican President Vicente Fox signed a series of
bilateral accords with Colombia Friday uniting the Western Hemisphere's two
largest drug-exporting nations in an offensive on cocaine trafficking.

The sweeping agreements, ranging from intelligence sharing to tighter bank
control laws, aim to stem money laundering and the flow of drugs eroding
the Latin American democracies.

"Everybody knows that there is infiltration, corruption," Fox said. "But
with Colombia and Mexico working together, we can win this battle and
eliminate drug trafficking."

The offensive could show that the two Latin American nations, which have
each been separately coordinating drug policy with the United States, can
now work together.

Both Fox and Colombian President Andres Pastrana demanded soaring levels of
cocaine consumption be reduced in the United States, which is now injecting
more than $1 billion in mainly military aid to wipe out cocaine production
in Colombia's war-torn countryside.

" ... We can combat and attack trafficking rings in our countries, but if
the demand continues in the United States, someone will always be willing
to supply and transport drugs to that market," Pastrana said.

The two countries are the two biggest suppliers of cocaine to the United
States, which buys 80 percent of Colombia's estimated 520-ton annual
production.

Despite heavy U.S. funding, cocaine production in Colombia has skyrocketed,
with plantations of coca -- the drug's raw ingredient -- growing by 11
percent last year alone.