DRUG PROBLEM ONCE AGAIN TOPS U.S.-MEXICAN SUMMIT AGENDA

Washington, D.C. - White House officials admit that Mexico still has a
"tremendous problem" with drug trafficking but are praising its eradication
efforts in advance of President Clinton's two-day trip there that begins
today.

Mexico's war against drug traffickers, highlighted by a new $400 million,
land-sea-and-air battle plan, tops the agenda for Clinton's meetings with
Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo.

The setting will be the Yucatan Peninsula, a tourist haven where the two
presidents and their wives will have a Valentine's evening dinner before
Clinton and Zedillo get down to business on Monday. They have met seven
times previously.

In addition to drugs, their agenda includes trade, migration and the
environment.

Their meetings will take place against a background of a congressionally
mandated review of Mexico's cooperation with U.S. counternarcotics efforts
in the past year.

Mexico could face stiff economic sanctions if it receives a failing grade,
but all signs point to a U.S. decision to "certify" Mexico as fully
cooperative -as it has been all 12 years the process has been in effect.

Taking nothing for granted about Clinton's decision, however, Mexico
declared "total war" against the drug chieftains Feb. 4 through a program
that specifies early detection of drug flights and sea shipments and a
stepped-up counternarcotics role for the Mexican army.

The three-year plan contemplates purchases of aircraft, ships, radar, X-ray
equipment and other items.

Clinton's trip to Mexico and other Central American countries, originally
scheduled for last week, was postponed after the Senate set a goal of
finishing the president's impeachment trial by Friday, when he still would
have been out of the country. The Senate acquitted Clinton on Friday.

The Mexico leg was rescheduled for today and Monday. He will visit
Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala in March.

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.

Clinton's national security adviser, Sandy Berger, said Friday that drug
control is an important part of the U.S. agenda.

In the two years since Clinton and Zedillo established a set of common
objectives, he said, "We have seen Mexico extradite fugitives, eradicate
thousands of acres of opium, criminalize money-laundering and institute a
new screening process for law-enforcement officials.