CLINTON PRAISES MEXICO'S FIGHT AGAINST DRUGS

Visit Comes As Certification Deadline Nears

MERIDA, Mexico - President Clinton all but assured Mexican President
Ernesto Zedillo on Monday that he again would certify Mexico as a
cooperative ally in the war against drugs, brushing aside
disappointing results and U.S. congressional criticism.

"The fundamental question is are we better off fighting it together or
separately, and perhaps sometimes at odds with one another," Clinton
said at the outset of a meeting with Zedillo in this sun-washed town
on the Yucatan Peninsula.

Clinton cautioned that "neither country has won the drug war" but
added that there is reason for optimism on both sides of the border.

"Finally, we've got a lot of the indicators going in the right
direction in the United States. And cooperation with Mexico has
clearly improved under President Zedillo's leadership," Clinton said.

Clinton's annual certification of Mexico is necessary to keep U.S. aid
to Mexico flowing. It is due in two weeks, though he has not yet
formally announced his decision. It would take a two-thirds vote of
Congress to overturn his decision.

Since 1986, the government has been required by law to annually
certify that drug-producing countries are cooperating with U.S.
anti-drug efforts or face economic sanctions like a cutoff of U.S.
aid. Like Presidents Reagan and Bush before him, Clinton has routinely
granted the certification.

But with cocaine and other illegal drugs continuing to stream into
U.S. cities, many members of Congress are expected to raise their
annual demand that Mexico be punished.

Their demands are fueled by complaints about corruption among Mexican
authorities, an apparent decrease in seizures of cocaine last year and
a drop in the number of heroin-producing poppy fields destroyed.

But U.S. officials counter that the encouraging news is that Mexican
authorities are finally starting to work with U.S.
authorities.

"We think we are on track," said retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey,
director of the National Drug Control Policy Office.

Clinton noted that critics know about Mexican corruption because the
Mexicans discovered much of it themselves.

"Much has been said in my country about the extent of the problem you
face," Clinton said in a speech later to local business leaders here.

"Let us not forget that what we know in America comes largely from
Mexico's brave efforts to get to the truth and air it. Mexico should
not be penalized for having the courage to confront its problems."

And U.S. officials insist that Mexico is doing fine fighting illegal
drugs.

On cocaine, Mexico seized less in 1998 than the year before, but about
the same amount it seized it 1994, said Tom Umberg, a spokesman for
the White House Office of National Drug Policy.

On heroin, he said, there may be more land being used to grow poppies,
but said the growers have been forced to hide their once-open crops
and to disperse their fields. "They've made great progress with
respect to the poppy," Umberg said.

Just before the summit, Zedillo announced that his government would
commit an additional $400 million to $500 million to combating illegal
drugs.

During the summit, Clinton announced that the FBI will offer training
and technical help to the new Mexican Federal Preventive Police force.
The new force is being created to buttress local police who are often
poorly educated and underpaid.

Also during the meeting, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno signed an
agreement with Mexican Foreign Secretary Rosario Green to combat
violence along the U.S.-Mexico border. The pact calls for new training
for local and national law enforcement authorities and formal
communications between U.S. attorneys and Mexican consuls along the
border.

With drugs always a source of tension between the two countries,
Clinton was glad to turn to economic cooperation.

Mexico has surpassed Japan as the second-largest buyer of U.S. goods
and services after Canada, and U.S. officials believe the increased
trade has helped protect North America from the worst effects of the
Asian financial crisis.

Eager to boost that cross-border trade, the U.S. Export-Import Bank on
Monday extended a $4 billion line of credit to help Mexico buy U.S.
goods and services.

The two-year line of credit is designed to help the Mexican public and
private sectors purchase raw materials, capital equipment, aircraft
and other services from the United States.