At a United Nations drug conference in New York on June 8 President
Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico declared that no country should feel
entitled to violate another country's laws for the sake of enforcing
its own. This was a clear reference to the U.S. sting aimed at the
laundering of drug money, in which more than two dozen Mexican bankers
were snared.

Mr. Zedillo's government was not informed of the operation in advance.
The Mexicans have said that the operation violated their country's
sovereignty.

Undercover operations, by their very nature, involve deception and
ethically questionable tactics. By creating an artificial criminal
milieu and holding out temptationn for criminal opportunities that do
not otherwise exist, U.S. authorities are not punishing crinue but
testing people, and punishiing those too weak to pass the test.

This case is in the realm of foreign policy, to say the least.
Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin overstepped his authority, and
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was correct to reprove him.

The United States has no right to treat its neighbors this
way.

PAUL WOLF,
Glen Mills, Pennsylvania.