MEXICAN, U.S. AGENTS COMB DESERT

Remains discovered in search for mass graves near Juarez

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico -- It wasn't long before people began
gathering outside the dusty shooting range and horse ranch 10 miles
south of this busy border city, one of several sites that authorities
fear could yield mass graves containing as many as 200 victims who
have vanished over the years.

As bulldozers turned over mounds of desert soil at the ranch -- known
in Spanish as ``Hidden Treasure'' -- spectators and some relatives
showed up Tuesday as hundreds of Mexican drug agents, soldiers and FBI
agents began the gruesome task of trying to unearth the bodies of
victims they fear ran afoul of one of Mexico's fiercest drug cartels.

No victim has yet been identified, a task that could take weeks, but
authorities said Tuesday night that the remains of two people had been
recovered. ``They have found different types of bones, clothing and
shoes,'' Mexican Attorney General Jorge Madrazo said.

TV Azteca reported that both an owner and caretaker of the ranch where
the remains were found had been detained and taken to Mexico City. A
representative of the attorney general's office told the Associated
Press he had no information about the alleged detentions.

Since 1994, Mexican authorities say, 208 people -- including 18
Americans -- have disappeared in and around Ciudad Juarez, a city of
about 1.5 million across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas. As rumors
spread that the missing might be found, the two-lane highway leading
to one of the sites where authorities are excavating became clogged as
reporters, authorities, crews carrying equipment and spectators
descended on the area.

Ramon Alonso Aguilar, holding a flier with his brother's photo,
showed up hoping that authorities would allow him to look for his
brother Jose, missing for 18 months.

``The last time I saw him, he was being taken away by two men dressed
in police clothing,'' Alonso said, calling out to soldiers, ``Please
look for this man, I beg you!'' The soldiers, inside the site, did not
respond.

David Alba, special agent in charge of the FBI office in El Paso, said
the investigation is focusing on a series of ``murders and
disappearances related to drug trafficking.''

The remains, authorities suspect, are of Mexican and U.S. citizens who
ran afoul of the Juarez cartel and many, but not all, of the people
who have disappeared in the area are believed to have had some
association with the drug trade.

Agents move in

Mexican army and drug enforcement helicopters roared overhead Tuesday,
ferrying personnel to the ranch as hooded Mexican drug agents escorted
in 16 cars and sport-utility vehicles hauling U.S. agents with duffel
bags full of gear. The FBI has assigned 65 agents and forensics
experts to the case.

President Clinton called the suspected mass grave the work of
``particularly vicious'' criminal organizations in Mexico, which rose
after successful blows on traffickers in Colombia.

``It reinforces the imperative of our not only trying to protect our
border, but to work with the Mexican authorities to try to combat
these,'' he said.

But despite the extraordinary joint effort Tuesday and praise from
Clinton administration officials for the cooperation so far, Thomas
Constantine, recently retired chief of the Drug Enforcement
Administration, said the United States cannot expect much help from
Mexican authorities because the drug lords have penetrated that
country's security forces.

``The killings are carried out by police officers,'' Constantine said
in a telephone interview. ``The police are so seriously corrupted,
they've gone beyond taking bribes to active participation, including
taking part in assassination teams.''

Mexican police barred

Juarez and Chihuahua state police were excluded from the search as
Mexican federal agents arrived.

``This is why we have no confidence in the authorities. . . . I fear
they were involved in my brother's disappearance,'' Alonso said. ``He
just fixed cars for a living. I fear he was doing (auto) work for some
bad people.''

Until recently, the Juarez cartel was the most powerful drug network
in Mexico, responsible through the mid-1990s for much of the cocaine
and marijuana exported to the United States. Its power has waned since
the 1997 death of Amado Carrillo Fuentes, a charismatic leader U.S.
officials say built a multibillion-dollar enterprise flying drugs
across Mexico and sneaking them into the United States.

In the wake of his death, many residents and local officials say,
hundreds of people were kidnapped, tortured or killed in the city in
what police believe was at least in part a battle for control of the
cartel.

Said Constantine: ``These criminal organizations in Mexico are the most
powerful in the world. They have become in many areas in that country more powerful than the
government institutions.''

The Juarez cartel also excelled at buying off police, politicians and
judges. And many relatives of the missing have said victims were often
last seen in police custody.

``And since the disappearances occurred infrequently and affected
common Mexicans, authorities were lax and seemed disinterested in
following many cases,'' said Astrid Gonzalez, a Juarez social worker
and president of the grass-roots Committee Against Violence. ``Now
with all of this cross-border cooperation -- something that should
have been happening from the start -- it looks like we're seeing some
of the violence that has gripped our city finally resolved.''

Mexican and U.S. officials would not confirm reports that a binational
commission made the Juarez disappearances a top priority as early as
June.

City's seedy side

Juarez is a rambling city of contrasts. While it boasts a prosperous
business district, thousands of workers in foreign-owned assembly
plants live in improvised suburbs in the desert around the city.
Custom car shops do brisk business bulletproofing sport-utility
vehicles -- for cops and criminals. Another company sells fashionable,
bulletproof leather jackets.

As the seat of power for the drug cartel, Juarez has witnessed
gunfights on busy streets, and dozens have died in restaurant and bar
shootouts. Also since 1994, more than 200 Juarez women have been
killed, mostly in domestic disputes, but a number of them in serial
killings.

``Impunity has ruled in Juarez,'' Gonzalez said. ``I hope that the
reign of terror will end now that we're seeing some concrete action by
authorities.''

U.S. State Department press secretary James Rubin said bodies found
near Juarez would be transported to El Paso for collection of evidence
and identification.