MCCAFFREY VOICES CONFIDENCE IN MEXICO'S ANTI-DRUG EFFORTS

MEXICO CITY, Aug. 8 -- In one of his last official visits here as the
United States director of drug policy, Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, praised the
transition team of President-elect Vicente Fox and said he shared Mr. Fox's
opposition to the American drug-certification program.

But General McCaffrey, who has long expressed misgivings about the program,
said there was no chance that Congress would end it in the near future.
"Zero," he said, to a question at a news briefing. At most, he said, the
program might die a kind of natural death as the Organization of American
States begins drawing up plans next year for multinational drug evaluation
that would open all member governments' drug programs to scrutiny.

"I actually believe," General McCaffrey said, "that the certification
process is slowly disappearing under the evidence that multinational
cooperation better serves the interests of the American people than
confrontation."

Under the program, created by Congress in the 1980's, the State Department
evaluates other countries' interdiction efforts and can impose economic
sanctions on countries that do receive certification. Most Latin American
governments view the program as interventionist and lopsided, because it
does not allow for scrutiny of American efforts to combat consumption.

General McCaffrey, who arrived on Monday for a series of meetings,
including visits with Mr. Fox's chief security and law enforcement
advisers, praised the president-elect for seeking greater cooperation among
countries in the fight against drugs. He said he was confident that
Mexico's efforts would not be weakened by Mr. Fox's plans to limit the
military's role gradually.

General McCaffrey has long praised the Mexican military as a crucial
element of the battle because of its successes in destroying marijuana
crops and in confiscating drug shipments that travel through Mexico on the
way to the United States. At least 60 percent of all cocaine that enters
the United States is widely thought to pass through Mexico.

"My judgment is that President-elect Fox and this team that we are working
with are pragmatists," General McCaffrey said to reporters at the United
States Embassy. "They are determined to go down in history as Mexican
patriots. I cannot believe they will do anything that doesn't make sense to
them. They have got large new visions. And what we are going to do is
listen to what they say and be supportive of their emerging strategies."

Soon after his election on July 2, Mr. Fox announced plans to reorganize
the justice system to resemble United States agencies. At the same time, he
announced plans to lobby Washington to end the drug-certification program.
That will be among the topics to be discussed this month when Mr. Fox
travels to the United States to meet President Clinton, Vice President Al
Gore and the Republican presidential candidate, George W. Bush.

A member of Mr. Fox's transition team said even though ending certification
seemed unlikely, Mexico was determined to stop it.