MEXICAN DRUG CARTEL MAY BE LINKED TO 3 U.S. DEAD

[]Bodies: The remains of nine people have been discovered in Ciudad Juarez.
Crime families are eyed.

MEXICO CITY--Three of the nine bodies of alleged drug-trafficking
victims exhumed from clandestine graves on a Mexican border ranch are
those of Americans, authorities said Thursday.

The remains were identified as those of Jesus Alonso Provencio,
Marcelo Javier Aguilar Molina and Guillermo Jesus Rojo, said Trinidad
Larrieta, an authority with the Mexican attorney general's specialized
unit against organized crime.

The three were killed between April and May 1995, and died of stab
wounds, Larrieta said. Three other victims were Mexican, and were
identified as Raul Alarcon Sanchez, Ignacio del Real Fierro and
Antonio Tarazon Navarro. The remaining three have not yet been
identified. The exhumation and identification of the bodies was
conducted by the FBI.

U.S. and Mexican authorities working jointly found nine bodies in
clandestine graves situated on three ranches in different parts of
Ciudad Juarez, a city across the border from El Paso, Texas, that has
been dominated by the drug cartel of the Carrillo Fuentes family.

The two-month investigation began Nov. 29, 1999, with 65 FBI agents
and 600 Mexican military and federal judicial police, after a U.S.
government informant told authorities as many as 100 bodies might be
found at the sites.

The Carrillo Fuentes cartel is considered to be one of the most
powerful in Mexico. It was headed by Amado Carrillo Fuentes until his
death in July 1997 and continues operating under the direction of
other family members.

Acting against another infamous Mexico drug organization on Thursday,
a judge turned over for trial one of the top lieutenants of the
Tijuana-based cartel run by the Arellano Felix brothers.

Ismael Higuera Guerrero is charged with drug trafficking and the
illicit use of airstrips for drug trafficking. He also is a suspect in
the aggravated homicide of a Federal Judicial Police commander who
attempted to arrest him several years ago, said officials from the
Mexican attorney general's office.

Higuera also is wanted in the United States for his alleged activities
with the Tijuana cartel. The U.S. Embassy has presented an extradition
request to Mexican authorities.

The Arellano Felix cartel is also considered to be one of the largest
and most violent drug groups in Mexico.