CLINTON TO DISCUSS IMMIGRATION, DRUG ISSUES WITH ZEDILLO

MEXICO CITY - Despite appearances, President Clinton is not heading to
Mexico's sunny Yucatan peninsula this weekend for a post-impeachment holiday.

He has serious work to do in Merida, the resort city where he will meet
Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo on Monday for their seventh - and
probably most important - summit. The meeting may bring new agreements on
fighting drugs and coping with immigration.

Since the Cold War, relations with Mexico have been a low priority for the
White House. But U.S. officials increasingly fear that the sputtering
Mexican economy will hurt the United States.

Mexico is now the second-most important U.S. trade partner. That's why
Clinton's trip - part of a recent agreement with Zedillo to meet twice a
year - signals a shift in perspective for U.S. leaders.

"Maybe the trip means Mexico will be getting the foreign-policy respect it
deserves," said Richard Haass, foreign-policy director at the Brookings
Institution, a Washington think tank.

U.S. and Mexican officials have been hammering out language on three
agreements that could surface from the Clinton-Zedillo meeting.

Most important is a new joint effort to fight drug-related violence on the
U.S.-Mexico border. The plan is based on a generally successful border
partnership between police in San Diego and Tijuana.

Recent talks have also produced a deal aimed at preparing for decisive
responses to natural disasters to head off new U.S.-bound migration.

A third pact may focus more U.S. attention on its border patrol and growing
allegations of mistreatment of migrants, according to Juan Rebolledo,
Mexico's deputy foreign minister and its point man on U.S. relations.