REQUEST FOR EXTRADITION TESTS MEXICO

The capture over the past year of the three Amezcua brothers - dubbed
the Kings of Methamphetamines by the Mexican media - was applauded by
officials on each side of the U.S.-Mexican border as the biggest
trophy of the year in the war against drugs.

However, the celebration quickly turned sour: In the past four months,
Mexican judges have dismissed all charges against two of the three
alleged kingpins - most recently two weeks ago - and ordered them
freed. Although Mexican federal agents have succeeded, for the moment,
in keeping the brothers jailed, they have done so only on the basis of
pending extradition requests from the United States.

Now, Luis and Jesus Amezcua Contreras, accused of smuggling most of
the "speed" from abroad sold on the streets of the United States, have
become high-stakes pawns in the on-again, off-again anti-drug
partnership between Mexico and the United States. Mexican officials,
who have never extradited a citizen to the U.S. on drug charges, said
they believe the brothers have become a litmus test for measuring
Mexico's commitment to the drug war.

Relations are strained

The U.S.-Mexican relationship has taken such a precipitous dive in
recent months - battered by continuing drug-corruption scandals and
political sniping - that both sides now say the U.S. Congress might
not certify Mexico as a reliable partner in the drug war unless
Mexican officials make a dramatic show of cooperation before next
year's legislative vote.

"Mexico is on the path to becoming the first narco-state," said a
combat-weary U.S. official, who, like most of his counterparts in both
countries, agreed to a candid discussion of the sensitive issue on
condition that his name not be used. He said that if he were White
House drug policy chief Gen. Barry McCaffrey, "I'd just pull the
troops back and guard the border."

"Relations are terrible," conceded a senior Mexican anti-narcotics
official. He said there is an ongoing debate within President Ernesto
Zedillo's administration over how to make peace with angry U.S.
law-enforcement officials and politicians. "The Mexican government has
got to give them something - and they want these two people," he said.

Little progress seen

At the heart of U.S. dismay, said several senior officials, is
profound discouragement that Mexico has made so little progress in the
drug war, which Zedillo has said is his country's most serious
national-security threat. U.S. critics complain that the quantity of
drugs flowing through Mexico has not diminished; that none of the
major Mexican cocaine cartels has been dismantled; that no Mexican
drug traffickers have been extradited; and that the country's
much-praised new anti-drug laws have been thwarted by corrupt judges,
inexperienced prosecutors and legal loopholes.

Mexican drug-policy chief Mariano Herran Salvatti said Mexico has been
working hard to improve its track record.

McCaffrey defended the joint efforts: "Throughout the worst of it, we
have found ways to cooperate. The big problem is clearly the assault
by corruption and trickery of drug-trafficking organizations against
police and judicial authorities."

Corruption in high places

Nothing has infuriated U.S. officials more than recent revelations
that drug traffickers have infiltrated three elite Mexican agencies
created - with U.S. training and financing - over the past year. Even
Mexican Attorney General Jorge Madrazo noted last month in his annual

report to the Mexican Congress that drug cartels continue to
infiltrate his office, the federal police and state prosecutors'
offices because of the "rivers of gold they handle and their enormous
capacity for corruption."

The U.S. Customs Service had so little confidence in Mexican
law-enforcement agencies that it did not tell them about a three-year
undercover sting operation, called "Casablanca," linking some of
Mexico's most prestigious banks to drug-money laundering. Mexican
authorities were incensed that U.S. undercover agents conducted some
of the investigation in Mexico without their knowledge.

To strike back at the perceived attack on their sovereignty, Mexican
authorities threatened to try to extradite undercover U.S. agents who
they allege worked illegally in Mexico.

"We overreacted," said a Mexican official. "As soon as we talked about
extraditing American agents, we lost all our friends in (the U.S.)
Congress."

Certification in doubt

Although Clinton swayed Congress to certify Mexico in years past, some
analysts predict the impeachment inquiry may sap his ability to step
in as Mexico's champion. At the same time, "Zedillo is losing power,
and that is accentuated by the rise of the opposition" political
parties, said a senior U.S. administration official. "They can't
afford to be seen as being chumps of the Americans."

Therein lies the importance of the Amezcua brothers, whose judicial
path has followed a pattern all too familiar to law-enforcement
agents. Mexican prosecutors arrested Luis, 34, and Jesus, 33, in June,
and Adan, 29, last November. The two older brothers are wanted on
drug-related charges filed in 1994 and 1993 in California. Adan has
not been charged in the United States.

Mexican prosecutors never filed drug-trafficking charges against the
men, alleging only money laundering and weapons possession. Adan was
convicted on a gun charge, but judges dismissed all charges against
his brothers for lack of evidence.

"If it weren't for the U.S. extradition request, both brothers would
be home now," a Mexican official said.

Checked-by: Rich O'Grady