FEDERAL AGENT ACCUSED IN PLOT

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
agent based in Mexico is accused of trying to hire someone to kill a
teen-ager suspected in the 1995 slaying of his cousin.

Salvador Michael Martinez, 37, was arrested in Brownsville Tuesday,
according to an FBI statement. He was charged with federal violations
of murder-for-hire laws, the DEA said. The teen-ager, who has been
deported to Mexico, was not killed.

U.S. Magistrate John William Black on Tuesday ordered Martinez held
without bond at the Cameron County jail. On Wednesday, authorities did
not allow him to receive phone calls or messages.

Members of Martinez' family had said they believed the 1995 slaying
was a warning from a drug cartel aimed at another cousin of Martinez
who was a prominent DEA agent.

Authorities allege that Martinez tried to hire someone to kill a
Mexican teen-ager who was charged but not convicted on charges that he
had killed Martinez's cousin, Lionel ``Bruno'' Jordan, who died in a
carjacking on Jan. 20, 1995, in El Paso.

Martinez's alleged actions ``were to fulfill a personal vendetta,
which was in no way related to his duties as a DEA agent,'' said
Donnie R. Marshall, acting DEA administrator. ``We condemn any attempt
by a DEA employee to take the law into his or her own hands.''

Martinez' cousin is Phil Jordan, the former head of the DEA's Dallas
office and former director of the El Paso Intelligence Center. He has
since retired. Jordan's brother was killed in the 1995 carjacking.

His family has maintained that the slaying was intended to send a
message to the DEA and to Jordan to stay away from the powerful Juarez
drug cartel.

Phil Jordan said he was concerned that the investigation has been
handled by Mexican state police and the FBI. He said it is well known
that corrupt federal and state Mexican officers work for drug cartels.

``The picture is very clouded right now,'' Jordan said.