CLINTON HAILS MEXICO AS RELIABLE PARTNER IN DRUG WAR

WASHINGTON - President Clinton, ignoring recommendations of some
congressional leaders, yesterday said Mexico is fully cooperating with
U.S. counternarcotics efforts, citing progress in seizures of
U.S.-bound cocaine.

In his annual report card on the performance of countries used as
drug-source or transit points, Clinton also fully certified Colombia
as a reliable partner in the drug war despite a 20 percent increase in
coca cultivation.

Clinton's conclusions were announced by Barry McCaffrey, White House
national drug-policy director. McCaffrey said improved cooperation
with the Coast Guard contributed to the seizure of 27.7 metric tons of
cocaine and of six vessels by Mexico. He said overall drug seizures in
Mexico increased in 1999 by 50 percent.

On Colombia, McCaffrey said President Andres Pastrana is pursuing an
integrated strategy for curbing drug trafficking and deserves
continued U.S. support.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, Sen. Jesse Helms,
R-N.C., and the House International Relations Committee chairman, Rep.
Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y., signaled last week their opposition to the
recertification of Mexico's counternarcotics performance. They said
corruption and other factors have hampered the Mexican effort to curb
cross-border trafficking.

Countries found not to be fully cooperating with U.S. efforts can be
subject to economic penalties.

Clinton recommended, just as he did last year, that Afghanistan and
Myanmar be decertified because of their role in heroin trafficking.
Four other countries - Cambodia, Haiti, Nigeria and Paraguay - did not
meet the criteria for certification, but they were not penalized
because of vital U.S. interests, McCaffrey said. The four received
similar designations in 1999.

The remaining 20 countries subject to evaluation were certified as
fully cooperative.

The following countries were evaluated: Afghanistan, Bahamas, Bolivia,
Brazil, Cambodia, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador,
Guatemala, Haiti, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar,
Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Taiwan, Thailand, Venezuela
and Vietnam.

The State Department issues a yearly report reviewing the state of
narcotics-control efforts worldwide. This year's report hailed a
"continuing, steady decline" in 1999 in the Andean coca crop, even
taking into account an expansion of cultivation in Colombia.

Overall, coca production in the Andes reached a record low, with the
most dramatic declines occurring in Peru and Bolivia, formerly the
world's premier producers, the department said in a report. The Andes
is the source of all cocaine destined for the United States.

The report said Mexico, despite some progress, "faces a broad array of
drug-related problems, from production and transshipment of illicit
drugs to growing consumption."

Worldwide, the report said, the drug trade "had little to celebrate at
the end of the 20th century. Successful international narcotics efforts
over the past few years have gradually narrowed the drug syndicates'
field of action."