MEXICO EXTRADITES DRUG TRAFFICKER

WASHINGTON (AP) In a move welcomed by the Clinton administration,
Mexican authorities have extradited a Mexican man described as a
significant drug trafficker who headed a criminal enterprise.

State Department spokesman Lee McClenny said Wednesday that Tirso
Angel Robles, who escaped to Mexico from a California prison in 1995,
was turned over by Mexico to U.S. officials on Tuesday.

The announcement came as two key Republican House members moved to
overturn President Clinton's decision last month to certify Mexico as
a fully cooperating partner in the drug war.

U.S. officials said they were hopeful that the extradition would quiet
such criticism about Mexican cooperation. A major source of
congressional concern has been Mexico's refusal to extradite important
drug traffickers.

First word of the extradition came from Rand Beers, the State
Department's senior counter-narcotics official, during a hearing of a
Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee.

Subcommittee Chairman Paul Coverdell, R-Ga., noted that extradition
was a central issue in the debate over Mexican cooperation. He said
the extradition of Robles was "welcome news."

Robles was convicted in the United States in 1991 of drug trafficking
and taking part in a continuing criminal enterprise. He escaped in
1995 from California's Terminal Island correctional facility, where he
was serving a 12- year sentence.

He was arrested in Mexico in 1996 and approved for extradition a year
later. A Mexico City court recently rejected his appeal.

Officials described Robles as a significant drug trafficker, even
though he was not a member of a notorious criminal cartel.

According to accounts from Mexico, he was handed over by officers of
Interpol Mexico to the U.S. Marshals Service. A Marshals Service
spokesman said Robles arrived in the United States Tuesday night and
was en route on Wednesday to Los Angeles.

Mexico has extradited dual nationals wanted for drug trafficking and
other offenses but, before Tuesday, had never extradited a Mexican
national who was not a dual citizen, officials said.

In welcoming Robles' extradition, McClenny said the U.S. and Mexican
governments have an active and productive extradition relationship.
The two governments view the relationship "as important in both
bringing fugitives to justice and in combating transnational criminal
organizations, such as the Mexican trafficking group headed by
Robles," he said.

In certifying Mexico's performance in the drug war on Feb. 26, Clinton
ignored the objections of many in Congress.

And on Wednesday, House International Relations Committee Chairman Ben
Gilman, R-N.Y., and Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., introduced legislation
that would overturn the certification decision.

"No country in the world poses a more immediate drug threat to the
United States," said Mica at a hearing of the Government Reform drug
policy subcommittee he chairs.

Vast areas of Mexico are now under the control of drug traffickers,
Mica said. "If this trend continues, Mexico could be on the verge of
turning their sovereignty over to drug traffickers."

Congress under law has 30 days to reject the president's decision to
certify the drug efforts of a nation, but the Gilman bill would allow
Congress to debate the issue beyond the normal deadline.

At a separate hearing, Thomas Constantine, administrator of the Drug
Enforcement Administration, said two-thirds of the cocaine available
in the United States comes across the Mexican border. "On any given
day in the United States, business transactions are being arranged
between the major drug lords headquartered in Mexico and their
surrogates," he said.