CLINTON FACES THORNY ISSUES IN MEXICO VISIT

MEXICO CITY, - U.S. President Bill Clinton is set to travel this weekend to
Mexico after his
expected acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial to face the thorny
issues of drug trafficking, illegal immigration and border pollution.

Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, are due to arrive late
on Sunday in the Yucatan city of Merida, not far from famous Mayan
pyramids at Chichen Itza and the popular Caribbean beach getaway of
Cancun.

Clinton's visit with Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, scheduled to
last about 24 hours, is not expected to produce major bilateral
agreements. But it may help smooth Mexican ire over U.S. criticism of
Mexico's anti-drugs efforts and the flow of undocumented workers
across the two countries' 2,000-mile (3,300 km) border.

"I assume this meeting is just another way of showing interest in what
happens in Mexico on the part of the U.S.," said Sidney Weintraub, a
Washington-based economist at the Centre for Strategic and
International Studies. "For the Mexicans, to have that interest being
shown I assume is their main concern."

The Mexican press has been filled in recent days with indignation over
the annual U.S. debate on whether to certify that Mexico is doing its
part to stem the flow of Mexican marijuana and amphetamines and
Colombian cocaine across the border.

Clinton has until March 1 to report to Congress on whether Mexico and
other countries are worthy of receiving U.S. aid in fighting drug
trafficking. Clinton has granted Mexico such certification in the face
of strong opposition from some members of Congress every year since
taking office in 1993.

Mexican Interior Minister Francisco Labastida was in Washington on
Wednesday to give U.S. officials details of a Mexican programme
unveiled last week for a "total war" on drug trafficking. The $500
million programme includes X-ray searches at border checkpoints for
hidden drug stashes.

The programme is expected to be highlighted in the Merida meeting
among other signs of joint U.S.-Mexico anti-drugs cooperation, helping
Clinton sell certification to Congress and Zedillo stress his
government's active role in the war on drugs, analysts said.

"It will work for President Zedillo by helping him gain legitimacy
abroad as well as here in his country," said Joel Estudillo, an
analyst with the Mexican Institute for Political Studies. "And it
benefits Clinton by forwarding a policy he has defended: that Mexico
is doing its (anti-drugs) work."

Five years after Mexico joined Canada and the United States in the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), border trade, pollution
and immigration issues are expected to be addressed in Merida. But few
new initiatives are foreseen.

Mexico and human rights groups have raised increased concern over the
recent surge in deaths from dehydration, exposure and drowning of
Mexicans trying to enter the United States since Washington clamped
down on illegal immigration hot spots, prompting the migrants to take
more dangerous routes.

Human rights activists on Wednesday set up 360 white crosses in Mexico
City's main square, saying each represented a migrant who had died
since 1994 while trying to cross the border into California.

"Crossing the border illegally should not be a death sentence," said
Claudia Smith, border project director for the California Rural Legal
Assistance Foundation. "It is not a question of whether we have a
right to control the border. But we must do so in a manner that
minimizes, not maximizes, the threat to life."

Clinton originally was due to tour reconstruction efforts in Central
America following the devastation caused last October by Hurricane
Mitch before coming to Mexico. But that leg of the visit was postponed
to March 8-11 to allow Clinton to remain in Washington for Thursday's
expected Senate vote on the two articles of impeachment against him.