DEA PONDERS PULLOUT OF AGENTS IN TIJUANA

Idea Prompted By Series Of Drug-Connected Killings

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is considering removing its agents
from Tijuana because of the city's string of drug-related slayings.

The move is one of several measures being considered by the DEA to protect
agents working in Tijuana and other parts of Mexico. The FBI and the U.S.
Customs Service, which also have people in Tijuana, are evaluating their
agents' safety, too.

"Security is a major concern," said Terry Parham, a DEA spokesman in
Washington, D.C. "There is a heightened alert because of the recent
incidents of violence."

The three agencies are also talking about increasing security at their
Mexican offices and urging agents to take additional safety precautions.
The measures would stay in effect as long as they considered agents at risk
in Mexico.

"We just have to be prepared to make sure that the violence will not be
directed at our law enforcement officials," said Walter Collette Jr., the
associate special agent in charge of the Customs Service in San Diego. "We
will continue working very closely with our Mexican counterparts."

Officials of all three agencies said the alert would in no way hinder their
work in Mexico or their investigation of the Tijuana-based Arellano Felix
drug cartel, which is suspected in many of the killings.

"If anything, it has further strengthened our resolve to solve this
problem," Collette said.

FBI spokeswoman Jan Caldwell agreed, saying the new precautions are merely
for protection.

"It's accomplishing the mission and not giving in to these thugs," she said.

The latest high-profile killings shocked U.S. officials because they
involved three Mexican anti-drug agents who had been meeting at least once
a month with San Diego agents from the FBI, DEA and U.S. Attorney's Office.
The three bodies were found near their battered car at the bottom of a
ravine in the mountainous area between Tecate and Mexicali.

Drug-related violence in Mexico has come in cycles in the last two decades,
said William Walker, a Florida International University professor who
researches drug trafficking. But Tijuana's drug-related killings appear to
be escalating in the last year and a half and have reached into Mexican
government circles, Walker said.

"In a way, U.S. agents are in over their heads," he said. "They don't know
who among their contacts they can trust."

DEA agents have worked in Mexico for at least the past 20 years. They are
currently stationed in eight cities, including Tijuana and Mexico City.
U.S. Customs and FBI agents also work in several cities; each agency has
two people assigned to Tijuana.

The agents are prohibited from investigating cases in Mexico, and they must
not carry guns. Their main role is to gather information from Mexican
authorities that might be useful in ongoing investigations of drug
trafficking and money laundering in the United States. They also act as
liaisons between U.S. agencies and their Mexican counterparts.

The recent killings include the Feb. 27 slaying of Alfredo de la Torre
Marquez, the second Tijuana police chief assassinated in less than six years.

On March 8, seven men, including two former police officers, were arrested
in connection with de la Torre's death. The suspects allegedly confessed
that they were working for Ismael "Mayo" Zambada, a Sinaloa-based drug
trafficker.

Three days later, Mexican soldiers and federal agents arrested JesFAs
"Chuy" Labra at a youth football game in Tijuana. Labra is said to be an
uncle and top adviser to the Arellano Felix brothers, who reputedly control
the marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine smuggling corridor through Baja
California into the United States.

On March 15, Labra's attorney, Gustavo Galvez Reyes, was found dead in
Mexico City. Authorities said he was beaten before he was suffocated.

Peter Smith, director of Latin American studies at the University of
California San Diego, said it is rare for U.S. officials to speak publicly
about their agents' safety in Mexico. When law enforcement agencies think
their people are in danger, he said, they usually lobby U.S. or Mexican
politicians for legal changes, such as the right to carry guns or conduct
investigations.

The new safety concern may be another way of getting the attention of
public officials, Smith said.

"What makes this unusual is it seems to concede victory to the drug
traffickers," he said.

Fear for the safety of U.S. agents assigned to Mexico can be traced to the
torture and slaying of DEA Agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena 15 years ago, said
Walker, the Florida International University professor. After Camarena's
death, a Mexican magazine listed the names of DEA agents assigned to
Mexico, he said. The DEA pulled those agents out and sent in new people.