MEXICO ENDS U.S. MILITARY DONATIONS IN ANTI-DRUG WAR

WASHINGTON - Mexico does not want any more U.S. military donations for its
counterdrug efforts and instead will buy the equipment it needs, Mexican
officials said Wednesday.

"We've wrapped up the stage of our bilateral cooperation that involved
equipment transfers," said Mexican Foreign Minister Rosario Green. "We will
be able to rely on our own resources."

She and other Mexican officials said they did not mean to signal a step
back from the increased cooperation between the two countries in the fight
against traffickers. The nations will continue to share military
information and some training.

But coming at the end of a bilateral meeting on counterdrug cooperation,
Ms. Green's comments appeared to signal that relations have chilled
somewhat, some analysts said.

At the least, progress toward military cooperation stumbled with Mexico's
recent rejection of U.S. helicopters, analysts said.

Meeting for the seventh time as a formal group, senior Mexican and U.S.
officials said the overall anti-drug cooperation was vastly improved from
years past.

"We have abandoned the old approach where we used to blame each other," Ms.
Green said.

She and White House drug czar Barry McCaffrey said the meeting this week in
Washington was a sign of continuing dialogue.

Mr. McCaffrey lauded Mexico for an increase in drug seizures this year,
including two major busts in recent months involving ships in the eastern
Pacific.

On Wednsday, the two countries released a statement outlining a series of
initiatives, including coordination on recent cross-border drug arrests and
the revamping of bilateral task forces to share intelligence.

A secure communications line between anti-drug agencies in the United
States and Mexico is being established.

A Pentagon official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the
United States also welcomed Mexico's plans to buy new helicopters and planes.

"That's what we want: countries that can buy modern equipment on their
own," the official said. "We also don't have as much good equipment to give
away as we did 10 years ago."

In general, relations between the two militaries remain positive, the
official said.

But administration officials privately acknowledge that Mexico's recent
return of 73 Vietnam-era helicopters created an awkward situation. The
Mexican military complained that the aircraft had too many mechanical
problems to justify maintenance costs.

Two years ago, Clinton administration officials heralded Mexico's
willingness to take the helicopters as a breakthrough in cooperation with
its secretive military. Former Defense Secretary William Perry visited
Mexico and received his Mexican counterparts for several Washington meetings.

"Then the Mexicans got stung - they had some legitimate complaints about
the helicopters," said John A. Cope, a professor at the National Defense
University in Washington.

Now the Pentagon appears again to be getting the cold shoulder from the
Mexican military, which long has viewed U.S. forces with suspicion, he and
other analysts said.

Mexico's military also chafed under the restrictions placed on U.S.
equipment. The helicopters, along with some fixed-wing aircraft and other
equipment, went to Mexico under a no-cost lease arrangement that retained
some U.S. control over how Mexico used the arms.

Clinton administration officials, for example, complained to their Mexican
counterparts when some of the helicopters were seen ferrying Mexican troops
to battle against insurgents in the southern state of Chiapas.

"The Mexican officers don't like those strings attached," said Roderic
Camp, an expert on Mexican affairs at Claremont McKenna College in
Claremont, Calif.

Mr. Camp said the setback in relations between the two militaries may
reflect a broader chill that stems from the U.S. arrests of numerous
Mexican bankers on money-laundering charges. That 1998 operation, called
Casablanca, angered Mexican officials because they were not notified of
U.S. agents' presence on Mexican soil.

Mexican officials threatened to prosecute customs officers and others who
operated in Mexico without permission.

Mr. Cope at the Defense University agreed, saying Mexico often seems to use
its military to express displeasure with the United States.

"The Casablanca episode led to a tremendous undercurrent of distrust and
anger among the Mexicans for the United States," Mr. Cope said.