MEXICO'S EFFORTS IN DRUG WAR CRITICIZED

GAO says corruption is rampant and little has been done to stem the flow to
the United States.

Washington- In a report on Mexico's war on drugs, a federal investigator
said Wednesday that country has done little in the past two years to stem
the flow of illegal narcotics into the United States.

"No country poses a more immediate threat to the United States than
Mexico," Benjamin Nelson of the General Accounting Office, the
investigative arm of Congress, told a joint House-Senate hearing on
U.S.-Mexico drug cooperation.

He outlined a GAO report that said drug-related corruption of Mexican
officials remains "pervasive and entrenched within the criminal justice
system."

Nelson, director of international relations and trade issues for the
GAO,said U.S. law enforcement agents operating in Mexico have told him they
trust only one judge in the entire country to keep wiretapping orders
secret.

While praising Mexico for passing legislation last year to combat drug
traffickers, Nelson said the "new laws are not fully implemented, and
building competent judicial and law enforcement institutions continues to
be a major problem."

He also said Mexico has failed to fully cooperate with the United States on
extradition. Although the United States and Mexico have had a mutual
extradition treaty since 1980, no Mexican has ever been turned in to the
U.S. government on drug charges.

Nelson also criticized the Pentagon, which has provided Mexico with $76
million in drug-fighting equipment, for sending planes and helicopters that
are ineffective.

The report said the Mexican military has used the equipment to fight drugs
but that "inadequate planning and coordination within the Department of
Defense" has limited the hardware's effectiveness.

Nelson said some helicopters sit idle because the U.S. military has failed
to provide Mexico with spare parts and that two Navy ships have never been
used because they were not properly outfitted when they were delivered.

Four C-26 spy planes cannot carry out their missions without $3 million in
modifications on each plane, he said.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said Mexico's anti-narcotics effort has
gaping holes and that President Clinton's decision on Feb. 26 to certify
Mexico as a fully cooperating partner in the war on drugs was a mistake.

Feinstein, who introduced a Senate resolution to decertify Mexico, pointed
to reports that Mexico is the primary transit country for cocaine entering
the United States from South America.

"Ignoring the failures of Mexico's anti-drug effort will not make them go
away," she said.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said anti-drug efforts with Mexico "have been a
failure in every respect."

He added: "We've been having these same hearings every year, and it's not
getting better. It's getting worse. And it's going to get worse next year."

An effort to decertify Mexico was defeated last year. Instead, Congress
passed a watered-down resolution that voiced displeasure with Mexico's
anti-drug efforts. In addition, the Senate required Clinton to report later
on whether Mexico had made significant progress in its fight against, drug
traffickers. Last fall, he assured Congress that it had.