MEXICO GETS US OK ON DRUGS

Lawmakers including Sen. Dianne Feinstein balk at the presidents
certification. Colombia remains off the list.

Washington-President Clinton certified Mexico on Thursday as fully
cooperating in anti-drug efforts and upgraded Colombia's status in the
narcotics war by waiving economic penalties imposed for the past two years.

Several lawmakers hailed Clinton's decision on Colombia, which the
president said was still among the world's major drug producing countries.

But the legislators said they would push to overturn Mexico's certification.

By March 1 every year, U.S. law requires the president to assess whether
countries that produce or traffic in illicit drugs are cooperating with the
United States or taking adequate steps of their own to fight narcotics.

If he decides they aren't, he can decertify them and cut off most U.S. aid
that is not related to the war against drugs. He can also waive such
penalties, as he did this year with Colombia.

Although Colombia remains decertified, Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright said the United States would resume sending aid because the
country's national police have been effective in blocking much of drug
production and trade.

She said Colombia could not be certified because its government has yet to
cooperate fully. The nation is led by President Ernesto Samper, who is said
by U.S. officials to have links to druglords because they contributed $6
million to his 1994 campaign.

In contrast, Albright hailed Mexico's "strong cooperation," saying it has
enacted legal reforms in the past year to combat money laundering and drug
trafficking. She said it has formed specialized investigative units,
punished official corruption and increased its number of drug seizures,
arrests and extraditions.

On Capitol Hill, however, Mexico's certification rankled some House and
Senate members, who said they will push to overturn its passing grade but
waive economic penalties. Congress must act within 30 days.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who led a failed Senate effort last year
to decertify Mexico, said the country has made "limited progress" but still
has "gaping holes" in its efforts. In the past year, she said, its
drug-related arrests have fallen, along with seizures of weapons, heroin
and methamphetamine.

"At best, we should say that Mexico has cooperated partially with the
United States," Feinstein said at a hearing be fore the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee's panel on the Western hemisphere.