ALBRIGHT SIGNALS MEXICO WILL CLEAR DRUG HURDLE

Latin America: Annual U.S. certification of country's anti-narcotics effort
continues to be a divisive issue.

OAXACA, Mexico -- Secretary of State Madeleine Albright hinted Sunday that
Mexico will soon get official U.S. certification for its anti-drug efforts,
meeting an annual requirement that continues to be a divisive issue between
the two neighbors.

"It is inappropriate to make predictions," Albright said when asked about
the matter at a joint news conference here with Mexican Foreign Minister
Rosario Green.

"But . . . the level of cooperation has been very good," she said. "We have
had a lot of discussions on this. We will continue to have a lot of
discussion on this." Albright said she believes that Mexican officials
"view the problem of drugs as seriously as we do."

Albright spent the last day of a three-day Latin American visit in this
picturesque southern Mexican city, where she endeavored to reinforce the
improved U.S.-Mexican ties that have emerged during the concurrent
presidencies of Bill Clinton and Ernesto Zedillo.

Under U.S. law, the White House must certify each year that Mexico--as well
as other countries--is making serious efforts to attack the problem of
illegal drug trafficking. President Clinton is expected to make his next
formal decision on the delicate matter around late February.

A denial of certification would greatly embarrass the political leadership
of Mexico, where there is widespread evidence of police corruption and
chronic difficulties in combating drug criminals. Penalties for failing to
receive certification would include a cutoff in U.S. aid, other than
counter-narcotics assistance, and U.S. opposition to Mexican aid at
international financial institutions, such as the International Monetary
Fund and the World Bank. Albright will make a recommendation to Clinton
before he makes the decision. "It obviously has its own timetable,"
Albright said of certification. "I think it is very evident that the
[Mexican] cooperation on narco-traffickers is on a very good level."

Green, Albright's Mexican counterpart, agreed that the two nations are
cooperating to combat illegal drugs and said, "We seek to eliminate this
cancer at the beginning of this century."

The reality that national administrations in Washington and Mexico City
have entered lame-duck stages was much on the minds of Albright and Green,
who have held 10 individual meetings in recent years to discuss matters
ranging from drugs to immigration to the North American Free Trade
Agreement.

Clearly, the U.S. and Mexico remain divided by difficult issues, including
Washington's refusal to allow Mexican truckers north of the border, a ban
that Mexican officials say violates NAFTA's terms.

Still, the two nations' top diplomats each expressed wishes Sunday that
strong ties between the traditionally wary neighbors will be maintained in
the future.

Albright said she was struck by the spectacle of the ancient ruins of Monte
Alban, which she had visited early Sunday. The leaders of the United States
and Mexico are leaving their own legacy for the future, she maintained,
expressing hope that one day people will look back on the Clinton and
Zedillo administrations as "a turning point in U.S.-Mexican relations."

"We've gone a long way in making this work--and we want to make sure that
it lasts," Albright said.