CLINTON'S MEXICO MOVE CRITICIZED

WASHINGTON - Unhappy with President Clinton's decision to give
high marks to Mexico's counternarcotics programs, some lawmakers
contend that Clinton is looking too much at Mexico's efforts and not
enough at results.

Clinton "certified" on Friday that Mexico is a fully cooperating
partner in the drug war despite a decline in narcotics seizures and an
increase in opium poppy cultivation, among other setbacks.

A group of senators led by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of
the Senate caucus on drug issues, wrote to Clinton and urged that he
follow strict criteria in February 2000 when, by law, certification
decisions next come up.

They recommended that the criteria include Mexico's willingness to
extradite drug chieftains, its ability to arrest and prosecute money
launderers and leaders of narcotics syndicates and its record on drug
eradication and seizures.

Clinton's decision drew outright opposition from House Minority Leader
Dick Gephardt, D-Mo. "Mexico has not done enough to meet the
requirements of our law," he said.

Rep. Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y., chairman of the House International
Relations Committee, said Clinton's decision "cannot stand." The
results of Mexico's counterdrug campaign, Gilman said, "are dismal."

By law, countries found not to be fully cooperative are decertified
and can be subject to economic sanctions unless the president grants
them a waiver on national interest grounds.

"Mexico is cooperating with us in the battle for our lives," Clinton
said in a speech in San Francisco. Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo
is "working hard to tackle the corruption traffickers headlong," he
said, adding, "He cannot win this battle alone. And neither can we."

Barry McCaffrey, who heads the White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy, said that last year, Mexico implemented legislative
reforms, arrested numerous drug traffickers and sustained massive
interdiction and eradication programs.

He told a news conference that outright decertification of Mexico
would "devastate" efforts to build long-term cooperation.

In Mexico City, Juan Rebolledo, undersecretary at the Foreign
Secretariat, said Mexico was happy "that an obstacle has not been
imposed to cooperation."

Vicente Yanez, president of the National Chamber of Manufacturing
Industries, said in a radio interview, "It should be us who certify
the United States," a reference to the U.S. demand that causes drug
trafficking.

Meanwhile, Colombia, decertified with a national interest waiver last
year, was elevated to fully certified status on Friday. The move was
seen as a gesture to Colombian President Andres Pastrana, with whom
the administration has established close ties during his six months in
office.

Haiti, plagued by what officials called a "dysfunctional criminal
justice system," was decertified with a national interest waiver. In
the same category were Cambodia, Nigeria and Paraguay.

Afghanistan and Burma, key opium poppy countries, were decertified
with no national interest waiver.