.c The Associated Press

MEXICO CITY (AP) Mexican officials distanced themselves Monday from
accusations by the former national police chief, who accused an expresident
of ordering an assassination and a slain cardinal of drug trafficking.

Juan Pablo de Tavira, the former head of the Federal Judicial Police, made
his accusations in radio and newspaper interviews last week.

``The attorney general's office not only distances itself from his
statements, but also notes that in most of the cases it has entirely
different theses,'' the federal attorney general's office said.

It added that it has summoned De Tavira to testify about any evidence he
might have in the cases.

De Tavira still works in the attorney general's office but ``does not form
any part of the teams of investigation ... related to the cases he spoke of
during his interviews,'' the agency said.

De Tavira accused former president Carlos Salinas de Gortari of pronouncing
``a death sentence'' against candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio.

Salinas has repeatedly denied any relationship to the slaying, and De Tavira
offered no evidence in the interview, which was also reported by the daily El
Universal on Thursday.

Colosio was shot at a campaign rally in the border city of Tijuana in March
1994. Current President Ernesto Zedillo replaced him as the candidate for the
ruling party.

De Tavira also said that the late Roman Catholic Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas
Ocampo was involved in drug trafficking, as was papal representative Girolamo
Prigione.

Prosecutors claim Posadas Ocampo was killed during a shootout by rival drug
gangs at Guadalajara airport when gunmen mistook his car for one supposedly
carrying a drug lord. The cardinal had spoken out against drug lords.

Prigione, who retired earlier this year, has denied any involvement in drug
trafficking.

De Tavira himself was the focus of a bizarre case. He was poisoned in
December 1994 shortly after taking over the police agency. He spent months in
a coma before recovering.

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