CONFUSION IN MEXICO CHIHUAHUA STATE POLICE WON'T ARREST CARRILLO

Hard on the heels of a 46-count U.S. indictment against alleged Mexican
drug kingpin Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, Chihuahua's top law-enforcement
official says there's no reason to arrest him.

It seems that in Mexican officialdom, the right hand is unaware of what the
left hand has done.

Mere days ago, U.S. officials were lauding the outstanding cooperation
shown by Mexican officials in the investigation leading to the indictment
that was announced in El Paso last week. The indictment alleged that
Carrillo ordered the murders of 10 people in Juarez.

Along the drug-violence-prone border, that's cause for concern -- or should
be -- in Mexico.

Apparently it's not, and the much-touted cooperation has evaporated, at
least for the moment.

Chihuahua state Attorney General Arturo Gonzalez Rascon said Carrillo isn't
wanted by the state police, not even for a traffic violation. The attorney
general's spokesman said on Tuesday that if state police encounter
Carrillo, they won't arrest him. Yet a provisional warrant for Carrillo is
on file at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City authorizing any Mexican police
officer to arrest Carrillo. Wanted posters for Carrillo are on the walls of
the Juarez federal police headquarters.

If there is to be progress in the binational fight against drug trafficking
and the cartels and kingpins that deal in drugs, cooperation by Mexico must
be steady, not spotty and dependent on the whims of recalcitrant officials.