MEXICAN OFFICIAL DEFENDS EFFORTS AGAINST DRUGS

HOUSTON -- Mexico's highest law enforcement official defended his country's
efforts to combat the drug trade at a conference here Friday as his nation
reeled from comments made by the U.S. ambassador.

Mexico's Federal Attorney General Jorge Madrazo Cuellar said his nation has
stepped up efforts to fight drug trafficking. Madrazo was a co-host at a
conference on international law enforcement that also was attended by U.S
Ambassador to Mexico Jeffrey Davidow.

"The Mexican government has a very clear conviction to pursue organized
crime effectively, particularly drug trafficking and crimes connected to
it, such as money laundering," Madrazo said.

Mexican newspaper headlines bellowed Friday that Davidow had called Mexico
the largest base for drug operations in the world on the eve of the
nation's possible recertification by the U.S. Congress as a partner in the
international war on drugs.

Madrazo condemned the process of certification used by the United States.

"The threat of decertification only generates tensions in international
relations, and those tensions, as a consequence, help the common enemy we
are trying to defeat," he said.

Davidow, who also spoke at the conference, made reference to the fact his
comments were misinterpreted by the Mexican media.

The ambassador was quoted as saying, "The fact is that the headquarters of
drug trafficking is in Mexico ... just like the headquarters of the Mafia
is in Sicily."

Continuing to speak in Spanish to a group of alumni of the University of
Southern California in Mexico City, the ambassador appeared to soften his
remarks by adding that "the headquarters of the drug trade are in many
countries, and Mexico is one of them."

Outside the conference here Friday, Davidow told a reporter: "I want to
clarify what I said yesterday. Obviously, Mexico is not the base of drug
trafficking in the world. Surely, one of the most important bases is
Mexico, but Mexico is just one of the countries where these drug
trafficking organizations are."

Davidow said cooperation between the United States and Mexico in fighting
the drug war has improved, but the problem of drug trafficking has grown
worse throughout the world.

He wouldn't say whether he believed Mexico would be certified again by
Congress as an ally in the war on drugs.

Madrazo defended his country's record in combating drug traffickers, citing
numerous statistics demonstrating increased funding and manpower going into
the effort, as well as its growing effectiveness.

In 1999, Mexico spent $160 million on new programs and equipment to fight
drugs; this year, that figure will more than double, he said.

He said that war is especially important as more and more Mexicans are
using drugs, especially in the border region.

"Unfortunately, while Mexico has been a country through which drugs are
trafficked and in which they are produced, we are growing increasingly
concerned with the growth in drug use among Mexicans," he said.

Madrazo spoke to about 100 prosecutors and law enforcement officials from
the United States and Mexico who attended the conference, which he played
host to along with Texas Attorney General John Cornyn.

Prosecutors discussed strategies for convicting criminals who flee across
international borders.

While U.S. prosecutors have typically worked to have fugitives found in
Mexico extradited, that can be a long and unreliable process, Cornyn said.

A better strategy may be to use a little-known provision in Mexican law,
called Article 4, that allows Mexico to try Mexican nationals at home who
commit crimes abroad and flee to their native land.

"There are numerous examples of very substantial prison sentences, 50 years
and more, under Article 4 of the Mexican penal code that I think provide a
very meaningful alternative to prosecution in the United States," Cornyn
said.

He said Article 4 is the only option for prosecuting Mexican nationals who
commit capital crimes in the United States, since Mexico does not impose
the death penalty.

"As a practical matter, once these individuals flee to Mexico, if they
commit what would be a capital offense in Texas, they will not be
extradited, so Article 4 represents the only meaningful option," Cornyn
said.

Madrazo said there are instances where a crime is grave enough to invoke
the death penalty under Mexican military law, but that is very rare; for
all practical purposes, the death penalty does not exist in Mexico.

"I am absolutely opposed to the death penalty," Madrazo said.

Cornyn said victims' rights groups have not been critical of Article 4,
though the death penalty will not be imposed under it.

"The concern they have is the fact that too many criminals cross the border
and are assumed to be untouchable, when in fact that is not the case," he
said.

Cornyn also unveiled a new Web page created by his office that will help
law enforcement officials track criminals who flee into Mexico. Internet
users can see the page through the criminal justice section of the attorney
general's Web site at www.oag.state.tx.us.

Another problem facing prosecutors is a failure by local law enforcement
officials at times to allow a foreign national to notify his or her
consulate when arrested. That right is granted under the 1963 Vienna
Convention and a binational agreement between the United States and Mexico.

There have been several high-profile cases in the United States of
foreigners attempting to overturn their conviction on the basis of not
being afforded that right, Cornyn said.

None had been successful until a court of appeals in Beaumont ruled in
January to overturn a conviction on a murder case. Cornyn said he will
appeal that ruling.

In the interests of the 600,000 United States citizens in Mexico and the
hundreds of thousands that visit there each day, that right should be
recognized by the United States in the hopes that Mexico will reciprocate,
Davidow said.

"It is essential to help us protect American citizens in the close to 200
countries where they are traveling today," he said.