MEXICO, COLOMBIA CERTIFIED AS ANTI-DRUG ALLIES

Regional stability an influence

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton on Friday certified Mexico and Colombia as
fully cooperative allies in fighting illegal drugs, even though most hard
drugs flooding the United States come from those countries.

The president's declaration illustrates the extent to which Washington's
paramount interests, from regional stability to trade, influence its annual
assessment of the drug threat posed by foreign countries.

On Capitol Hill, two senators who led a failed attempt last year to
overturn Mexico's certification dropped their opposition, and the House
speaker, Dennis Hastert, signaled that he was not seeking a fight with the
administration over the issue.

The senators, Paul Coverdell, R-Ga., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., were
muted compared with their demeanor last year.

New standards sought

They joined six Republicans in sending a letter Friday to Clinton urging
the White House to incorporate new standards for evaluating Mexico's
cooperation, including prosecution of the leaders of smuggling operations
and extradition of traffickers wanted in the United States.

``The government of Mexico has taken steps to improve its law enforcement
cooperation,'' the letter said. ``But far more, we believe, needs to be
done.''

Senate aides said there was little chance that opponents of certification
could muster a majority to reverse Clinton's decision, much less a
two-thirds vote to override a presidential veto of any reversal.

Feinstein and Coverdell had other reasons for avoiding a fight over drug
policy. Feinstein, her aides say, does not believe that a divisive floor
battle would be fruitful. Coverdell is the chair of a U.S.-Mexico
legislative conference in Atlanta this spring and does not want to anger
the Mexicans taking part.

The administration's decision is likely to run into sharper opposition in
the House, where Rep. John L. Mica, R-Fla., is to hold hearings next week.
``I'm hearing more and more members of Congress express dismay about
Mexico's performance,'' said Mica, who predicted that the administration
was ``in for a very rough time on Capitol Hill.''

2 nations don't make cut

The administration refused certification to only two countries, Afghanistan
and Burma, also called Myanmar, which together supply 90 percent of the
world's opium.

In theory, decertification disqualifies a country from receiving American
economic aid or multilateral development loans. But Washington already has
frosty relations with Afghanistan and Burma and provides no direct aid.

Four other countries -- Cambodia, Haiti, Nigeria and Paraguay -- were
judged not to have done enough to stanch the drugs smuggled through their
territory. But sanctions against all of them were waived in the American
national interest, largely because of their political and economic
fragility in moving toward democratic rule.

Haiti's case

Although Haiti has become a significant shipment point for cocaine and
other drugs smuggled into the United States, the State Department said the
sanctions mandated by decertification would mean eliminating American
programs propping up the battered Haitian economy.

``All of us are deeply concerned about that country's deteriorating
situation,'' Attorney General Janet Reno said Friday at the briefing
announcing the certification decisions.

Mexico remains the primary transport route for Colombian cocaine smuggled
into the United States, as well as a major source of heroin, marijuana and
methamphetamine and a center for laundering drug money, according to the
annual International Narcotics Control Strategy Report released Friday by
the State Department.