REPORT: SALINAS HAD DRUG TIES

NEW YORK (AP) -- Swiss authorities believe they have evidence showing the
jailed brother of former Mexican President Carlos Salinas made tens of
millions of dollars working for Colombian drug traffickers, The Wall Street
Journal reported today.

Raul Salinas de Gortari is imprisoned in Mexico on charges of murder
conspiracy and ``inexplicable enrichment.'' The Swiss began investigating
Salinas in 1995 after freezing $120 million in bank accounts he controlled.

The Journal said the potential evidence against Salinas includes
depositions given by U.S. drug agents, and by Colombian and Mexican
traffickers and financiers, some of whom are jailed in the United States or
participating in the federal witness protection programs.

The witnesses apparently describe Colombian cartels making payments,
scheduling flights and negotiating to recover drug shipments seized by
Mexican officials, the Journal said. Their depositions are being reviewed
by Salinas' lawyers, the paper said.

Sources familiar with the testimony told the Journal that a former
accountant for the Cali, Colombia, drug cartel, testified that $80 million
was paid by the cartel to Mexican politicians between 1990 and 1993, with
about half that money going straight to Raul Salinas.

The Journal's sources said the testimony does not implicate Salinas'
brother, but evidently some witnesses have testified that Colombian drug
lords thought they were buying Raul Salinas' influence on the president.

Raul Salinas has said he accumulated his fortune legally but has admitted
to capitalizing on ``huge opportunities'' available to him as a sibling of
Mexico's president.

Carlos Salinas de Gortari's presidential term ended in 1994 amid his
brother's scandals. He has said repeatedly that he was unfamiliar with his
brother's financial dealings and has not been charged with any crime in
Mexico.

If the Swiss can prove that the frozen money belonging to Raul Salinas is
drug money, they will be entitled to keep it.

Salinas also is being investigated in the United States, Mexico, France and
Britain, the Journal said, and the Swiss evidence could help revive the
American and Mexican probes, which appear stalled.