MEXICO GETS KUDOS FROM U.S. DRUG CZAR

MEXICO CITY -- U.S. drug policy czar Barry McCaffrey on Tuesday praised what
he said appears to be an open transition of power here after 71 years of
one-party rule.

McCaffrey is in Mexico on a trip that will also take him to Colombia, which
he said faces staggering challenges. President Clinton is to travel to
Colombia later this month for a drug strategy session.

"It's a pretty positive atmosphere," McCaffrey told U.S. correspondents in
Mexico after meeting with Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, justice
officials and members of Mexican President-elect Vicente Fox's transition
team.

McCaffrey, who frequently has visited Mexico as the White House's director
of National Drug Control Policy, said Fox's representatives participated in
meetings between U.S. and Mexican officials Monday and Tuesday.

Fox last month defeated Mexico's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party,
the PRI, and will take office Dec. 1.

Fox has pledged to clean up corruption in Mexico, the transit point for as
much as 60 percent of the South American cocaine sold in the United States.

The politician has suggested that he will dramatically revamp Mexican police
agencies and the attorney general's office. Because one party has controlled
Mexico's presidency for seven decades, speculation is rampant over how
smoothly this can be accomplished and how organized crime groups will react.

"The transition team we've been exposed to is pragmatic and looking for
creative, new solutions," McCaffrey said. "They are determined to go down in
history as Mexican patriots," he added. "I cannot believe they will do
anything that doesn't make sense to them."

Fox will reportedly review the role of the Mexican military and whether
troops should be used for police work. The Mexican military is involved in
eradication of drugs as well as intelligence and law enforcement work.

He declined to comment on whether Mexico should continue to use the military
in the drug war.

"I'm positive of one thing. The United States should not have a hand in any
way in shaping how . . . nations in the hemisphere organize themselves
internally to confront these issues," he said.

McCaffrey did say, however, that Mexican and U.S. officials will recommend
that Fox and the next U.S. president should try to preserve the agreements
for cooperation on drugs that have been established under Zedillo and
Clinton.

McCaffrey is to head to Cartegena, Colombia, today to talk about the United
States' $1.3 billion anti-drug aid package to Colombia.

Colombia is a cocaine-producing country overwhelmed by violent traffickers
and rebels that control about 40 percent of the nation's territory.

"Colombia is in a risky position," he said. "We're committed to standing
with them. Hopefully the region will, also, along with the Europeans and the
Japanese. He (President Andres Pastrana) has to solve several problems at
the same time: an economy in the dumps; a peace process that's going
nowhere; and a drug-production problem that's skyrocketing."