MEXICO'S MASS GRAVES - DRUG VIOLENCE, NOT U.S. HELP, HARMS SOVEREIGNTY

Maybe it will take something as horrific as a mass grave outside of Ciudad
Juarez to breach the wall of distrust and nationalism that stymies full
cooperation between the United States and Mexico on the problem of drug
trafficking.

Last week, as dozens of FBI and Mexican anti-drug agents worked side by
side digging for graves, FBI director Louis Freeh and Mexican Attorney
General Jorge Madrazo held a press conference on the joint effort on
Mexican soil. Although the probe is far from complete, authorities fear
they have uncovered the mass graves of potentially scores of victims of
Mexico's drug violence.

From the start, however, Madrazo found himself the object of questions and
accusations from some Mexicans who believe he is selling out Mexico's
sovereignty by allowing American law enforcement personnel to help
investigate the Juarez killing fields.

These questions didn't come only from the Mexican press, which often
exploits anti-American sentiments, but also from presidential candidate
Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, who said last week: "We don't require any direct
intervention from any police force anywhere."

Require? No. Mexico could continue sinking under a wave of drug-fueled
violence, becoming every day more like Colombia, even though Bogota finally
has realized that working with the United States is far better than
allowing the drug traffickers to take over.

Madrazo apparently sees Mexico facing the same danger. At the press
conference, he loudly defended working with the FBI: "Cooperation does not
harm sovereignty. What hurts it is drug trafficking."

It's time for all Mexicans to acknowledge that their nation stands at the
edge of an abyss of violence and corruption spawned by savage drug
traffickers. The way out is to work shoulder-to-shoulder with Americans in
waging war against the cartels. Our two nations cooperate on many other
issues; why not on this?

We hope politicians and the press in Mexico begin to see that cooperative
efforts such as extraditing Mexican drug lords and allowing armed U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration agents to operate in Mexico wouldn't hurt
Mexican sovereignty. But allowing drug traffickers to undermine virtually
every public institution in Mexico most certainly will.

What is required is for the United States and Mexico to launch a unified
front to combat the drug trafficking that plagues both our nations.