MEXICO A DRUG ALLY, CLINTON SAYS

Colombia Also Gets Passing Grade In Drug Policy Review

WASHINGTON (AP) - Ignoring recommendations by top Republican lawmakers,
President Clinton declared Wednesday that Mexico is fully cooperating with
U.S. counter-narcotics efforts as it attempts to curb the country's well
organized and often violent drug cartels.

In his annual, congressionally-mandated 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.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Jesse Helms and House
International Relations Committee chairman Benjamin Gilman (R-N.Y.) said
last week that the situation in Mexico continues to deteriorate. They
recommended that Mexico be "decertified" as a cooperative partner, a move
that, under law, could have brought about economic reprisals against Mexico.

Barry McCaffrey, the White House drug control chief, responded to Helms and
Gilman by issuing a powerful defense of Mexico's effort.

"They're spending a higher per capita percentage basis of their budget on
counter drug activities than the United States is," he said.

If the Mexican effort is a charade, "it's the most expensive one I've ever
seen," McCaffrey said. He said Mexico's operating budget for anti-drug
activities is $1 billion, with $520 million earmarked for equipment.

"The drug seizures of the Mexican navy have sky rocketed," he said.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright also defended Mexico's record.
"Despite the many challenges that remain, Mexico has become a real partner
in our battle against drugs," she said.

Mexican Attorney General Jorge Madrazo said Mexico's own best interests
demand fighting drug trafficking. "It's a matter of national security, for
the protection of our children. We believe in multilateral cooperation," he
said.

In making their case against Mexico last week in a letter to Albright,
Helms and Gilman said that there has been "no major progress in uprooting
the drug cartels that do business with virtual impunity in Mexico."

Congress has the right to overturn the certification of Mexico or any other
country so designated, but any such move is highly unlikely.

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

Colombia is the world's largest producer and distributor of cocaine and has
been working closely with the Clinton administration on drug issues.
Clinton is seeking $1.6 billion in assistance for Colombia over the next
two years, most of to counter drug activities.

Colombia suffered an embarrassing setback Wednesday when an American drug
suspect wanted for extradition to the United States escaped from a maximum
security prison in Bogota, smuggled out in an old mattress, prison
officials said. Fifteen of the police officers at Bogota's La Picota prison
were immediately suspended.

There was almost certainly "complicity" on the part of guards or officials,
prisons director Fabio Campos said.

Colombian foreign minister Guillermo Fernandez said his government
reaffirmed its "indeclinable, unbreakable will" to fight drug trafficking.

Clinton recommended, just as he did last year, that Afghanistan and Burma
be decertified because of their role in heroin trafficking. Four other
countries -- Cambodia, Haiti, Nigeria and Paraguay 97 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 last
year.

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

The review involved the following 26 countries and territories:
Afghanistan, Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, China, Colombia,
Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica,
Laos, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Taiwan, Thailand,
Venezuela and Vietnam.

Also Wednesday, the State Department issued its annual report on the state
of narcotics control efforts worldwide.

The report hailed a "continuing, steady decline" last year in the Andean
coca crop, even taking into account the 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 report said. The Andes is the source of all cocaine
destined for the United States.