ILLEGAL IN MEXICO

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.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett