MEXICO DRUG CARTELS INVADING U.S.

DEA official says penetration has climbed dramatically

WASHINGTON -- Just ahead of President Clinton's expected endorsement of
Mexico's counterdrug effort, a top Drug Enforcement Administration official
said yesterday that the Mexican narcotics cartels' penetration of the
United States has increased dramatically.

Clinton is expected to "certify" tomorrow that Mexico fully cooperated with
American counterdrug efforts last year. The announcement is part of an
annual process that evaluates the law enforcement performance of drug
source and transit countries.

DEA Administrator Thomas Constantine strongly suggested to the Senate
Caucus on International Narcotics Control that the drug war, as far as
Mexico is concerned, is being lost. But he stopped short of saying Mexico
should be decertified.

Several senators joined Constantine in expressing exasperation over
Mexico's seeming inability to make headway against the drug kingpins. Sen.
Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said that if the issue comes before the Senate, he
would vote to decertify.

During a visit to Mexico last week, Clinton signaled that Mexico would be
certified when he said it "should not be penalized" for its
counternarcotics efforts. Economic sanctions can be imposed against
countries that are "decertified" unless a presidential waiver is issued on
national security grounds.

Asked by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., whether penetration of the United
States by Mexican criminal organizations has increased since 1994,
Constantine said, "It has increased dramatically."

Constantine added that the corruption in Mexican civilian law enforcement
has no parallel with anything he has seen in 39 years of police work.
Feinstein expressed grave disappointment over Mexico's record in
extraditing drug kingpins to the United States for trial, saying that only
in one minor case has Mexico approved such extradition requests.

Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, said Mexican authorities' seizures of heroin and
cocaine were down last year compared with 1997.

But Randy Beers, the State Department's top counternarcotics official, said
Mexico deserves credit for a "serious effort" to deal with drug
traffickers, saying it has conducted an "unprecedented anti-drug campaign
that, to my knowledge, has never been duplicated" elsewhere. He added that,
proportionally, Mexico earmarks a higher percentage of its national budget
to counterdrug efforts than does the United States. He also noted that
Mexico plans to spend more than $400 million over the next three years to
combat narcotics trafficking through high technology. The administration
generally acknowledges that Mexico's anti-drug efforts have fallen short,
but not for lack of trying.

"There is a difference between cooperation and success," the State
Department said earlier this month.

Some senators advocated new approaches.

Feinstein suggested that a "binational army" should be formed to go after
the drug kingpins.

Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., said the United States might be better off just
buying all the production of South American drug chieftains and then
destroying it. Such an approach, he said, would be cheaper than the current
strategy emphasizing eradication and interdiction.

Mexico is a major transit point for U.S.-bound cocaine shipments from South
America. It is also a major producer of marijuana and a significant
producer of heroin.