MEXICO TOUTS ANTI-DRUG TOOLS AS U.S. DEBATES CERTIFICATION

MEXICO CITY -- Unveiling a new armada of high-tech weapons from
satellites to radar-equipped speedboats, the Mexican government
Thursday declared ``total war'' on drug trafficking, just as U.S.
lawmakers begin the annual debate over whether to certify Mexico as a
good ally in the war on drugs.

At a joint briefing with the country's attorney general, defense
minister and navy secretary, Mexican Interior Minister Francisco
Labastida said President Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de LeF3n has decided
to combat drug trafficking ``with all the power of the law and the
government'' because ``drugs constitute the greatest threat to our
national security.''

Labastida outlined an eight-point plan whose aims include beefing up
communications among local police and the 13 Mexican federal agencies
with drug-enforcement responsibilities, as well as interdicting drugs
before they enter Mexico from Central and South America.

U.S. reports back up what street-level drug agents in Mexico have been
saying for almost a year: Traffickers are becoming more diverse in
their choice of smuggling means and routes, shipping more drugs into
the United States via air and water from Mexico's Caribbean coast and
remote spots in Baja California.

In testimony to a U.S. Senate committee this week, CIA Director George
Tenet said that ``drug shipments are increasing over land through
Central America to Mexico and from there across the southwest border
into the United States.''

The Mexican officials said Thursday that their nation will spend about
$500 million on an array of satellite communications technology,
aircraft, naval vessels and training of new police and military agents.

Recently, new evidence -- and Mexican government investigations --
suggest that some high-ranking Mexican politicians are linked to
drug-running.

Although Mexican leaders said the roll-out of the two-year plan to
combat narcotics trafficking has nothing to do with the U.S.
certification process, analysts who follow the illegal drug trade said
the timing was intended as a clear message to the U.S. Congress. In
March, after receiving reports from the Clinton administration on
whether it recommends certifying the drug-fighting efforts of almost
30 countries, Congress will weigh efforts by those countries to fight
drugs.

Decertification could lead to trade sanctions and restrictions on U.S.
aid, and there is a split in Washington over how to evaluate Mexico's
performance in the drug war. State Department and White House
officials are said to believe Mexico is doing better in such efforts,
while Drug Enforcement Agency and U.S. Customs Service officials are
quietly suggesting that Mexico is not worthy of certification.

Mexico's new campaign to show a strong front in the war against drug
trafficking began before Thursday's announcements. For weeks, the
country's attorney general's office has kept its fax machines humming,
sending out report after report of drug busts, big and small. And last
month, the Mexican government said it would extradite Luis Amezcua,
reputed leader of what U.S. officials say is the world's largest
methamphetamine distribution ring.

Despite the timing, Mexican government officials insist the increase
in anti-drug activity is solely for the benefit of the Mexican people.

``We don't do these things because they serve the interests of the
United States,'' said Juan Rebolledo, Mexico's deputy foreign minister
in charge of U.S. relations. ``We do this because (drugs) hurt us
here. It corrupts from within.''

Drug-trade analysts say Mexico is much better at fighting drugs than
many other Latin American countries.

``The timing of these moves is all about certification,'' said Peter
Reuter, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Public
Affairs. ``But the reality is that Mexico, apart from the
certification process, is taking the drug problem more seriously.
Other countries don't care, except when the United States is yelling
at them about drug production.''