MEXICO'S EX-DRUG CZAR SENTENCED TO JAIL

MEXICO CITY-Mexico's former drug czar was sentenced Tuesday to more than 13
years in prison for abuse of authority and weapons violations.

It was the first sentence handed down against Gen. Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo,
who was arrested in February 1997 and charged with being on the payroll of
Mexico's top cocaine smuggler. Those charges are still pending.

Judge Armando Baez Espinoza sentenced Gutierrez Rebollo to 13 years, nine
months and three days in prison, according to Jose Manuel Alvarez, personal
secretary to Deputy Attorney secretary to Deputy Attorney General Alfonso
Navarrete Prida. Navarrete Prida is over-seeing the prosecution of
Gutierrez Rebollo.

The general is being held at the maximum-security Almoloya prison in
Toluca, 35 miles west of Mexico City.

The army became suspicious when he moved from a modest house to a luxurious
apartment in the posh Bosque de las Lomas area of Mexico City. Prosecutors
say the apartment was provided by Amado Carillo Fuentes, then Mexico's top
drug smuggler.

Gutierrez Rebollo's arrest endangered Mexico's certification by the United
States as an ally in the fight against drug smuggling in 1996, but the
United States ended up certifying Mexico.

Mexico was certified again last week with relatively little controversy.