2 GENERALS HELD BY MEXICO ON DRUG CHARGES

MEXICO CITY -- Two senior generals allegedly linked to a powerful drug
cartel have been arrested in the Mexican military's biggest scandal since
the general who headed anti-drug efforts was arrested in 1997 on charges of
protecting the same traffickers.

Retired Division Gen. Francisco Quiroz Hermosillo and active Brig. Gen.
Mario Arturo Acosta Chaparro face drug-trafficking charges, and Quiroz also
is accused of bribery, prosecutors from Mexico's defense secretariat said
at a news conference late Thursday. Both are being held at a military prison.

Mexico's military has played a prominent role in attacking drug smuggling
in Mexico, making it a target for efforts at corruption by drug dealers.

The military's biggest scandal occurred in February 1997, when the head of
Mexico's anti-drug agency, Gen. JesFAs Gutierrez Rebollo, was arrested and
later convicted of aiding trafficker Amado Carrillo Fuentes.

Military and civilian prosecutors gave few details of the new cases during
their news conference, but Mexican newspapers reported Friday that both men
were involved in Mexico's fight against leftist guerrillas during the 1970s.

Quiroz was director-general of military transport from 1989 until his
retirement in June and was a former military attache at Mexico's embassy in
Japan.

Human rights groups had accused Acosta of being involved in the torture and
disappearances of suspected leftists during the government crackdown on
leftist rebels in Guerrero state in the 1970s.

He had served as the judicial police chief for Guerrero state during that era.

The newspaper Reforma reported in 1998 that both men were under
investigation for possible links to Carrillo Fuentes at that time, citing
sources both in Mexico and the United States.

Quiroz continued to hold a high-level position for another two years.

The chief military prosecutor, Col. Rafael Macedo, told the news conference
Thursday that testimony from witnesses and other evidence led officials to
conclude the two men had aided Carrillo Fuentes, head of the so-called
Juarez Cartel.

Carrillo Fuentes, who died after plastic surgery in July 1997, was known as
the ``Lord of the Skies'' for his use of jetliners to smuggle vast
quantities of drugs into Mexico and then onto the United States.