OAXACAN POLICE CHIEF RESIGNS

OAXACA CITY, Mexico (AP) The chief of police in Mexico's southern Oaxaca
state resigned after two days on the job, authorities confirmed Friday, a
day after news reports linking him to a powerful drug cartel.

Police Chief Jose Mendez Rico was appointed by the state's new governor,
Jose Murta, even though Mendez Rico was mentioned last year in court
testimony as a contact for the Juarez cocaine cartel.

The state attorney general's office denied he had been fired, saying Mendez
Rico had quit for "health reasons." Speculation had surrounded his departure
Thursday, with various reports attributing the resignation to health
problems in his family or his inability to calm a local feud.

In the testimony, originally published by the news magazine Proceso in
February 1997 and reproduced Friday by the local Cantera daily, Gen. Jesus
Gutierrez Rebollo said Mendez Rico "was one of the persons to contact to
reach the head of the Ciudad Juarez cartel, Amado Carrillo."

Gutierrez Rebollo, Mexico's former drug czar, later was fired and jailed
after authorities determined he was protecting drug traffickers.

Checked-by: Don Beck