U.S., MEXICO ANNOUNCE DRUG ACCORD

CLINTON AND ZEDILLO UNVEIL OTHER PACTS

President Clinton and Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo announced a new
agreement today to measure progress in fighting drug smuggling and unveiled
other pacts to help Mexico buy U.S. products and combat pollution along
their common border.

Under the drug agreement, reached two weeks before a U.S. decision is due
on whether Mexico is cooperating in the drug war, the United States and
Mexico adopted benchmarks for measuring progress in 16 areas such as
reduction in drug demand, production, distribution and money laundering.

"The (benchmarks) provide objective markers that the United States and
Mexico can use to measure the success of our cooperative efforts to reduce
the supply and demand for illegal drugs," the White House said in a
statement, released as Clinton and Zedillo met outside this provincial
capital. "They also serve to identify those areas in which both nations can
intensify their counterdrug efforts."

The benchmarks come in response to criticism on both sides of the border
that U.S. certification of drug-fighting allies is ill- defined, one-sided
and political.

"Clearly, neither side has won the war on drugs," said White House
spokesman David Leavy. "What today's announcement gives us is specific,
concrete goals to work toward."

Clinton is expected to renew by March 1 an annual certification of Mexico
as an ally in the drug war, despite setbacks over the past year in stemming
the drug flow from south of the border and opposition by several members of
Congress to renewing the certification.

Other drug-related law enforcement agreements announced today would provide
U.S. training to Mexican police and would track chemicals used to make
illegal drugs.

Other agreements would provide $4 billion in U.S. export financing to help
Mexico import U.S. goods, expand the ability of airlines in each country to
cooperate in marketing, fight tuberculosis and increase U.S. aid for
fighting wildfires in Mexico.

For Clinton, today's agreements, which administration officials and their
Mexican counterparts signed at a massive credenza on the lawn at the
secluded Hacienda Temozon, marked a passage into his post-impeachment
presidency and brought an obvious sense of freedom.

He and Hillary Rodham Clinton lingered for three hours Sunday night over an
intimate dinner with Zedillo and his wife, Nilda.

Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, who joined Clinton here from her
weekend stop at the Paris peace talks on Kosovo, has not made her
recommendations on the drug certifications, required under a 1986 law.

But White House officials made plain in advance of Clinton's arrival in
this city on the Yucatan Peninsula that he is likely to certify Mexico as
an ally in fighting narcotics, as it has been for 12 years. This would come
despite Mexico's disappointing record on extraditions and a drop last year
in cocaine and heroin seizures.

"There's no doubt Mexico is doing everything it can to fight this massive
problem," said Leavy.

A failing grade would mean economic sanctions on top of diplomatic insult
to Mexico, which sees the U.S. certification process as political. To that
end, Clinton was here partly to gird Zedillo for a hard sell on Capitol
Hill, where Congress can override his certification of Mexico.

"If history is any guide, we certainly anticipate a very difficult time" in
Congress, said deputy White House chief of staff Maria Echaveste.

Mexico blames much of its drug problem on the United States, because
Americans are the world's biggest buyers of illicit narcotics. About
two-thirds of the cocaine sold in the United States comes through Mexico.

Today marks Clinton's second trip to Mexico as president and his seventh
meeting with Zedillo.

They also were to sign modest agreements to improve border safety, prevent
cross-border pollution and tuberculosis infections and train Mexico's
soon-to-be-created federal police force, which is modeled after the FBI and
meant to be a fresh start for the country's long- corrupt law enforcement.

They also planned to highlight booming economic trade in the five years
since the North American Free Trade Agreement.