CALL FOR A NEW LEVEL IN DRUG-WAR CERTIFICATION

Bill Could Prevent Downgrading Of Mexico

Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and Pete Domenici, R-N.M.,
introduced a bill Thursday to add another rank to the U.S. certification
process as an alternative to congressional proposals to downgrade Mexico's
efforts in the international war on drugs.

The new level, titled "qualified certification," is a less confrontational
approach, Hutchison said.

"This is our effort to introduce integrity to the process," Hutchison said.
"I hope it can be an alternative in the certification process and be an
effective tool in the eradication of illegal drugs."

Each year the White House grades Latin American and other countries'
efforts to limit drug production and trafficking and issues a drug
certification report.

The president has three choices: bestow certification, deny certification
or grant a national interest waiver. A decertified country faces loss of
most U.S. aid and international loans. A country given a waiver can receive
aid, but its drug-fighting efforts are considered below U.S. standards.
Congress has 30 days to respond, usually by the end of March.

Qualified certification would fall beneath full certification, but above
waiver status. A qualified country is not sanctioned. The United States
recognizes that country's efforts and "extends a hand of friendship" to the
country to reach certification, a Hutchison spokesman said.

High-level representatives from both countries, including law enforcement
agencies and the secretary of state, must create "specific, achievable"
benchmarks within 60 days. The president must update Congress twice a year,
in September and March, and use the benchmarks to reach a certification
decision the following year.

Hutchison said she hopes to garner support from the senators in other
border states and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss. A spokesman
for Lott said he had not seen the proposal.

For years, countries such as Mexico have blasted certification as an
encroachment on their sovereignty. A spokesman for the Mexican embassy said
this latest proposal was equally unacceptable.

Last year Mexico inched toward certification when a key House committee
passed a resolution to downgrade Mexico. The Clinton administration
promised to increase Mexican cooperation and a vote to decertify was
averted.

Proposals to decertify Mexico this year have been raised in both the
House and Senate.

Copyright 1998 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau