U.S. CERTIFIES COLOMBIA AND MEXICO IN DRUG WAR

WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration decided Wednesday not to seek
economic sanctions against Colombia and Mexico despite finding that
the flow of illegal drugs continues to grow from the two countries
into the United States.

Instead, both countries won praise from administration officials who
said that Colombia, the world's leading cocaine producer and Mexico,
the main conduit of narcotics into the United States, remained proven
allies in the drug war.

"Clearly we will succeed only if consuming countries, producing
countries and transit countries work together, not pointing fingers,
but linking arms," Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said. "We're
not demanding any more of (other countries) than we would of ourselves."

President Clinton certified both Colombia and Mexico -- as well as 18
other countries identified as significant drug producers or
traffickers -- as cooperative partners in the fight against drugs.
Only two countries were denied certification and four others were
given waivers on the basis of "U.S. vital national interests."

Federal law requires the president to assess the drug-fighting
performance of 26 problem countries. Countries that are not certified
face substantial restrictions on most types of U.S. assistance.

Critics of the annual certification process said that it is
ineffective and is more about politics than the fight against drugs.
In a letter to Albright, Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C. , and Rep. Benjamin
Gilman, R-N.Y., called the administration's report inaccurate and not
objective.

"There has been no major progress in uprooting the drug cartels that
do business with virtual impunity in Mexico," wrote the congressmen,
who each chair subcommittees overseeing international drug-fighting
efforts.

U.S. drug czar Barry McCaffrey dismissed congressional concerns that
Mexico's commitment to fighting drugs was just talk. "If this is a
charade," he said, referring to Mexico's counter-drug efforts, "it's
the most expensive one I've ever seen." McCaffrey said that Mexico is
spending more per capita on the drug war than is the United States.

The administration's report said that Mexico saw a "significant
increase in cocaine seizures, largely as a result of improved maritime
cooperation with the U.S." and record-low marijuana cultivation due to
aggressive eradication.

However, the report said that Mexico's overall anti-drug performance
did not improve.

Though President Ernesto Zedillo has declared illicit production and
trafficking to be Mexico's main national security threat, the
government still lacks adequate resources to patrol the vast
trafficking routes in the Pacific, according to the report. It said
that up to 60 percent of the South American cocaine sold in the U.S.
arrives through Mexico.

In Colombia, which supplies over three-quarters of the world's
cocaine, coca production rose 20 percent last year, the report said.
However, the administration praised the country for capturing 30
"significant Colombian drug traffickers" last year and for extraditing
a Colombian citizen to the United States on narcotics charges for the
first time in nearly a decade.

Colombian Ambassador Luis Alberto Moreno said that the four years of
decertification -- which ended last year -- hurt the country
tremendously.

"We`re moving in a totally different direction now," Moreno said.
"What`s important is that we fight this problem together. The aid
package recognizes that this is a shared burden."

Congress is reviewing an administration aid proposal that would pump
$1.6 billion into Colombia's effort to eradicate coca and poppy production.

The proposal would provide U.S. training, intelligence and equipment
to the Colombian military as well as money to support alternative
crops for peasants currently growing coca.

For the third year in a row the administration denied certification
for Afghanistan and Myanmar for their failure to take adequate
measures against illicit cultivation, drug trafficking and public
corruption that impedes prosecution of drug-related crimes. Four other
countries -- Cambodia, Haiti, Nigeria and Paraguay -- did not pass the
administration's inspection, but were given waivers to encourage the
development of those democracies.