MEXICAN DRUG GROUPS CALLED GRAVE THREAT TO U.S.

Drug agency chief tells Senate panel of their vast resources

The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Thomas Constantine,
warned yesterday that Mexican drug trafficking organizations pose the
worst criminal threat to the United States that he has seen in nearly
40 years in law enforcement.

Speaking days before the Clinton administration deadline for
certifying that Mexico is cooperating in drug-fighting efforts,
Constantine sketched a bleak picture in testimony before the Senate
Caucus on International Narcotics Control.

``Unlike the American organized crime leaders, organized crime figures
in Mexico have at their disposal an army of personnel, an arsenal of
weapons and the finest technology that money can buy,'' Constantine
said. ``They literally run transportation and financial empires, and
an insight into how they conduct their day-to-day business leads even
the casual observer to the conclusion that the United States is facing
a threat of unprecedented proportions and gravity.''

But with the administration on the brink of declaring that Mexico
deserves certification, he did not address the central question of the
level of official cooperation that Mexico has offered to the United
States.

The State Department must submit an annual report to Congress by
Monday that lists which countries have failed to cooperate in fighting
drugs. Clinton said last week on a brief visit to Mexico that it
should not be penalized for ``having the courage to confront its
problems'' with illegal drugs.

Constantine sidestepped a question about whether Mexico deserved to be
certified, talking instead about its decline in drug seizures, its
pervasive corruption and its failure to extradite any Mexicans sought
by the United States in connection with trafficking.

Other administration officials sought to play down any differences
over Constantine's bleak assessment, which drew heavily from reports
by DEA agents in the field.

Rand Beers, assistant secretary of state for international narcotics
and law-enforcement affairs, also testified at the hearing and said
Constantine had been careful to distinguish between the government and
organized crime. ``He was not saying it was the Mexican government
that engaged in drug trafficking,'' Beers said.

But Constantine made clear that Mexico had yet to stanch the flow of
cocaine, heroin and marijuana across its U.S. border. He stressed that
almost no traffickers of significance had been arrested and or extradited.

But Constantine described a corruption so widespread that even
sensitive information shared with elite anti-drug units reaches
traffickers.

``Because of the unparalleled levels of corruption within Mexican
law-enforcement agencies with whom we must work to ensure that these
individuals are brought to justice, our job is made that much more
difficult,'' Constantine said. ``Until we can work with our
law-enforcement counterparts in a relationship that is free from
suspicion, the burden to bring the drug lords before a jury of their
victims' peers will remain largely ours.''