SLAIN STAR LINKED IS TO DRUG USE

Mexico: Reaction is mixed to the allegations leveled at TV personality
Francisco 'Paco'Stanley.

Mexico City-As the nationally loved host of TV Azteca's morning
variety show, Francisco "Paco" Stanley seemed like a natural to
participate in the Mexican network's ambitious anti-drug program.

But two days after celebrating the first anniversary of the "Live
Without Drugs" campaign, the 56-year-old Stanley was shot to death
gangland-style with cocaine in his pocket and cocaine in his blood,
authorities said.

The public outing of Stanley's apparent drug use has given some people
here hope that Mexicans - who are constantly told of widespread drug
addiction in the United States - may begin to discuss a growing
problem at home.

"The public has always known that there was drug use in certain walks
of life, such as entertainment, sports and I daresay even politics.
But it's never talked about," said Dr. Cesar Avalos, who treats
addicts in Mexico City. "This case could make public discussion about
drug use more acceptable, since there's a huge stigma now."

Monica Valencia, the entertainment editor for the Mexico City daily
Reforma, said a few notable people have admitted to drug use, such as
pop star Sasha.

And last year, the husband of singer Alejandra Guzman was arrested in
Germany with 6,000 pills of the drug ecstasy. She was not charged.

But their stature does not compare with Paco Stanley.

"A lot of this is being revealed because of the Paco Stanley case,"
said Valencia. "But these are things everyone's always known but
didn't want to say."

Indeed, Mexicans were struggling Wednesday to understand how the
father figure who received a massive public funeral was the same man
with a cocaine grinder in his car and signs of regular drug use in his
nose.

"First he's fighting against drugs and then it turns out he's using
them himself," said Alma Mendoza, 22, a hairdresser. "I don't think
there's any excuse for it, not even to keep up with a difficult job."

Cocaine use, according to government statistics, show that the drug is
on the rise in Mexico, especially among young people. In 1997, 4
percent of Mexico's teenagers reported cocaine use, up from 1 percent
in 1992, according to the Health Ministry.

The figure for the overall population is low - just about 1.4 percent
of Mexicans have tried cocaine compared with 10 percent of people in
the United States. And yet, that represents a sharp jump over the days
when the drug was virtually unheard of in Mexico.

Stanley's son Francisco Stanley Jr., denied on national television
late Tuesday that his father had used cocaine.

And some Mexicans remained skeptical of their infamously corrupt
police, who have been known to plant drugs on suspects in order to
elicit a bribe.

"Who knows whether this is true or not," said Antonio Barva, 21, who
works in a Mexico City snack shop. "The police are capable of
inventing all of this to get the media off their back by finding some
explanation for this crime."

Stanley, who worked in radio and television for 30 years, was sprayed
with weapons fore as the sat in his sport utility vehicle outside a
Mexico City restaurant Monday afternoon. Police have characterized the
killing as a professional hit and are investigating the possibility
that it was drug-related. No suspects have been arrested.

An official in the federal Attorney General's Office said it was too
early to tell whether drug traffickers played any role in the killing.

Also on Wednesday, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration responded
to Mexican media reports suggesting the agency had intelligence that
might link Stanley to drug cartels.

"Stanley has never been the subject of any DEA investigation," said
the one-sentence DEA statement.

Separately, the Mexican Interior Ministry said that it had given
Stanley a credential identifying him as a government agent in order to
facilitate his request for a concealed weapons permit, something very
difficult to obtain due to strict gun controls in Mexico.

The existence of the credential and the dramatic revelations of
Stanley's apparent drug use were made public Tuesday afternoon by
Mexico City Attorney General Samuel del Villar.

Del Villar said that a small amount of cocaine - half a gram - was
found in Stanley's jacket at the time of his death and that he tested
positive for cocaine use. Also, authorities said a small device to
grind cocaine was found in the vehicle, and an autopsy showed damage
to Stanley's nasal septum indicative of frequent cocaine use.

Del Villar said he would not speculate on whether the killing might be
drug-related.

Even TV Azteca, the sponsor of the anti-drug program, seemed to
struggle with how to present the news.

On its Tuesday night newscast, the network did not report the drug
discovery until after a lengthy report on Stanley's funeral. Later,
news anchor Javier Alatorre read a series of messages from viewers -
all of which expressed skepticism that police had actually discovered
any drugs on Stanley or in his blood.

Stanley's killing has also had political fallout. Mexico City Mayor
Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, a presidential candidate in next year's
elections, has charged both major TV networks with unfairly blaming
his government for both the killing and the city's high crime rate.

Some of Stanley's fans said that drugs or no drugs that the TV star
would be remembered more for his decades of entertaining Mexican
families, his smiling face and his sense of humor than for anything
else.

"He will continue being the same Paco Stanley to me, whether he did
drugs or not," said Victoria Martinez de Palacios, a 54-year-old
homemaker. "In my heart, he will always be a warm memory."