MEXICO HAILS ITS PROGRESS IN BATTLING DRUG TRAFFICKERS

Latin America: As U.S.' annual decision on 'partner' certification looms,
authorities tout increased seizures and expanded budget.

MEXICO CITY--The Mexican government boasted Wednesday that it has
increased its seizures of marijuana and heroin and plans to more than
double its budget this year in the war on drugs.

"We are dedicating resources to this like never before," said Interior
Minister Diodoro Carrasco.

The announcements came just weeks before President Clinton's annual
decision on which countries to certify as partners in battling the
narcotics trade. In the past, fierce debate has broken out in
Washington over whether to certify Mexico, a major producer of heroin
and marijuana as well as the principal transshipment point for
U.S.-bound cocaine from Colombia.

Failure to get a passing grade could lead to economic sanctions
against Mexico, the U.S.' second-largest trading partner.

At a ceremony Wednesday, Carrasco was joined by the Mexican attorney
general and the secretaries of the army and navy in outlining the
achievements in Mexico's fight against drugs in 1999. Though they did
not mention the U.S. certification decision, due by March 1, they
appeared to be pressing their case for approval. "Without doubt, the
results we are evaluating today demonstrate the seriousness of our
institutional commitment," Carrasco said.

He said Mexico spent about $160 million in the fight against drugs in
1999 on such things as high-tech equipment, recruiting and training.
The total in 2000 will rise to about $430 million, he said.

Carrasco did not specify how that money will be spent and did not
field questions.

He said the increased budget and greater cooperation between
ministries contributed to the improved results, such as an increase in
drug seizures in 1999 compared with the previous year. Authorities
said they confiscated 7% more cocaine, 47% more marijuana, 82% more
heroin and 418% more opium paste.

Officials emphasized their successes, but seizures of cocaine and
heroin were still lower than earlier in the decade. And the officials
did not address a key concern of U.S. anti-drug authorities: Mexico's
failure to capture the leaders of the country's powerful drug cartels.

U.S. officials have assailed Mexico's anti-drug investigations. On
Sept. 24, for example, a top U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
official, Richard A. Fiano, told a U.S. congressional subcommittee
that "the investigative achievements [by elite Mexican anti-drug
units] as related to cases against the major Mexican drug-trafficking
organizations are minimal."

He said Mexican anti-drug units were understaffed and lacked equipment
and that corruption was so pervasive the DEA used "extreme caution" in
sharing sensitive information with Mexican officials.

Asked about such charges Wednesday, Mariano Herran Salvatti, the head
of the Mexican version of the DEA, known as FEADS, told reporters, "I
think this vision has changed."

He said authorities had arrested 46 members of the Mexican cartels'
hierarchies last year, although they hadn't detained the top figures.

Herran Salvatti said Mexican units had proved themselves by working
with their U.S. counterparts in Operation Millennium, an investigation
that resulted in the breakup in October of a major Latin American
cocaine ring and the arrest of nearly three dozen people, including
seven in Mexico.

However, he acknowledged, the top Mexican operatives escaped arrest
and are still being sought here. Herran Salvatti also acknowledged
that the figures on Mexico's drug seizures might not be as promising
as they first appear. They could reflect increased production, he said.

He noted that traffickers have developed genetically enhanced poppy
plants with a greater number of bulbs that mature more frequently.
Narcotics smugglers also have improved their strain of marijuana
seeds, he said, displaying a photograph of plants that resembled small
Christmas trees.

"If they apply technology to their crops, we have to use it too," he
said, adding that authorities were testing new fumigation techniques
and seeking more intelligence on the drug fields.

Authorities announced mixed results in eradicating drug crops last
year. About 38% more marijuana acreage was eradicated compared with
1998, while the destruction of poppy fields declined by 8%.

One bright spot in the drug fight was the role played by the Mexican
navy, officials said. It confiscated 26 tons of cocaine last year,
about 90% of Mexico's seizures of that drug. Nearly all of it was
discovered aboard three Mexican fishing vessels detained in the
Pacific, said the navy secretary, Adm. Jose Ramon Lorenzo Franco.

The navy announced another major seizure Tuesday, the capture of a
fishing boat off the western state of Michoacan containing nearly 3.3
tons of cocaine.