7 GENERALS NOW ACCUSED IN MEXICO'S WAR ON DRUGS

With last week's arrests of Gens. Mario Acosta Chaparro and Francisco
Quiroz Hermosillo, Mexico has arrested a total of seven generals on
suspicion of drug-related corruption.

According to the U.S. General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of
Congress, five of Mexico's military generals were arrested in the late
1990s, just as the country had agreed to give its military an expanded role
in the "war against drugs."

In 1995, the U.S. defense secretary visited Mexico to strengthen "the
military-to-military relationship" within the context of drug interdiction,
the GAO said. The U.S. Defense Department gave Mexico more than $70 million
in fiscal years 1996 and 1997 for equipment.

War On Drugs

U.S. foreign policy leaders thought using the military would help Mexico
counter the corruption of its civilian law-enforcement agencies, Matthew
Yarrow wrote for American Friends Services Committee in a report titled
"Still Pulling Strings: The U.S. Military in Latin America after the Cold War."

Instead, it appears the drug lords began bribing high-ranking military
officials with their formidable assets, just as they had bribed judges,
prosecutors and law officials.

Despite pledges for bilateral cooperation, the GAO noted that Mexico had
yet to extradite to the United States any Mexican national who was a major
drug trafficker. Further, the flow of drugs into the United States through
Mexico continues without much of a dent, the GAO report said.

The Generals

Acosta is a native of Chihuahua state. He and Quiroz specialized in
counterintelligence. Both enjoyed brilliant careers as specialized crime
fighters and intelligence experts. They became famous while serving on a
special task force to rescue Ruben Figueroa, the governor of Guerrero state
who was kidnapped in the 1970s.

In 1990, Chacon published a book called "Mexico's Subversive Movements"
that drew upon on his experience in operations against dissident movements.

Authorities said Chacon's name surfaced recently in connection with the
"mass graves" investigation in Juarez. No one has been charged in the
deaths of nine people (including four El Pasoans) who were found in the
clandestine graves in late 1999. Investigators said the dead were victims
of the Carrillo Fuentes group. The cartel grew deep roots in Chihuahua
state during the 1990s.

The depositions are part of what is known in Mexican federal law
enforcement as the "macro or maxi proceso," a voluminous document that
serves as an arrest warrant for numerous suspects with alleged ties to drug
dealers.

The warrant was mentioned at a June 8 hearing for Lucio Cano Barraza, a
Juarez lawyer who was arrested at his West El Paso home on Mexican charges
of drug smuggling and money laundering. An extradition hearing for Cano,
who denies the allegations, is scheduled for Sept. 21 in El Paso's U.S.
district court.