OFFICIAL SAYS MEXICO CAN FIGHT DRUG WAR ON ITS OWN

Foreign Minister Rosario Green has declared that law enforcement agencies
and the military in Mexico are prepared to fight drug traffickers without
U.S. equipment and other logistical support.

The assessment, in a report handed to the Mexican Senate Tuesday, reflected
growing Mexican frustration over political strings attached to U.S.
anti-drug assistance. In particular, Green's report was prompted by
Mexico's recent return to the U.S. Army of 72 Vietnam War-era helicopters
that were given to Mexico for drug interdiction, but which turned out to be
too old and expensive to operate. "Our country has the solid base . . . to
continue the war against drug trafficking with our own resources," she wrote.

The timing of Green's report proved embarrassing to Mexican and U.S.
officials who were participating in a cabinet-level bilateral conference in
Washington on drug cooperation. Responding to questions that dominated a
news conference closing the meeting today, Green attempted to play down the
situation, saying her report "does not mean an end of cooperation between
the U.S. and Mexico in the fight against drug trafficking."

Green's report, however, was the latest example of growing Mexican
resentment of U.S. intervention in Mexican law enforcement and drug policy.
It was hailed in Mexico as a warning shot to the United States government,
which will soon begin drafting its annual report card on which foreign
countries should be "certified" as eager partners in fighting drug
trafficking.

"The terms the U.S. puts on cooperation become increasingly unacceptable,"
said independent Mexican Sen. Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, a member of the Senate
foreign relations committee that is expected to discuss the report on
Thursday. "The U.S. does not create a climate of cooperation. The U.S. is
like the commander in chief of a war and we are all units under their
command that must do what the U.S. asks us to do." For many Mexican
officials, the helicopter embarrassment has come to epitomize the problem
in U.S.-Mexico drug relations.

"I'm providing you with choppers that have a lot of problems but I've kept
my part of the deal," said one senior Mexican official describing his
perception of the U.S. attitude. "Now, the U.S. is asking us why we're not
doing better in the drug war with something we can't use."

Mexican newspapers pounced on Green's letter describing how the Mexican
military and law enforcement now have enough of their own helicopters and
other equipment for drug interdiction with headlines that gave her comments
an ominous interpretation.

"Mexico Will Fight the Narco Alone: Ending Military Cooperation," said the
daily newspaper Reforma.