Case against reputed drug lord suffers another blow

By NIKO PRICE
Associated Press

MEXICO CITY When a light plane carrying the reputed head of
the Sinaloa drug cartel went down two years ago, authorities were
delighted. They nabbed the injured Hector Palma in a nearby house
protected by crooked cops, and declared a major victory in the
war on drugs.

Since then, charges of robbery, kidnapping, murder and drug
possession against Palma have fallen one by one. On Wednesday, in
the latest blow against the Palma case, a judge cleared him of
robbery, kidnapping and nine counts of murder.

Palma, known as "El Guero" for his fair hair, is serving a 2«
year sentence for minor convictions including weapons violations
his only ones so far.

The attorney general's office says he now faces only two counts
of murder, one of criminal association and one of drug
possession. Given prosecutors' track record, it is far from
certain he will be convicted of any of those.

The erosion of the case illustrates the trouble Mexico has had
with its muchtouted efforts to reform its justice system.
Prosecutors also complained of "irregular conduct" by a judge in
a June acquittal.

Investigators have cited 83 cases of misconduct among the
nation's 500 federal judges in the past two years. But only 19
have been dismissed or suspended.

Analysts said Palma's acquittals couldn't be attributed to
corrupt judges alone. Prosecutors' incompetence also figures into
the equation.

"There's a corruption problem, but also a structural problem,"
said Joel Estudillo, a researcher with the Mexican Institute of
Political Studies, a Mexico City think tank.

"On the one hand, the attorney general's office doesn't have the
judicial instruments to prove a case ... and on the other, the
prosecutors aren't prepared for their job."

Palma was arrested June 23, 1995, after his plane crashed near
Guadalajara and he took refuge in the home of a federal police
official there. Thirtythree police officers were arrested for
protecting Palma.

Three days later, President Ernesto Zedillo called the arrest a
major step in the war on drugs.

"We have just demonstrated that, despite the corrupting power of
drug trafficking, it can be fought with success," he said in a
speech. "Despite the fact that there are bad police and bad
public servants, we also have capable men and women, honorable
and fully dedicated to this struggle."

But the charges against most of the police officers also have
been dismissed, and prosecutors have been unable or unwilling to
make the charges against Palma stick.

One of the men responsible for the Palma arrest Gen. Jesus
Gutierrez Rebollo, who later was appointed as Mexico's antidrug
czar was arrested this year on charges of being in the pay of
a rival drug trafficker.

During the same period, judges cleared Palma in a deadly 1992
shootout at a Puerto Vallarta discotheque, acquitted him of
marijuana and cocaine possession and threw out charges of "crimes
against health," a count frequently leveled against drug
traffickers.

In December 1995, a judge blocked further investigation into
Palma's alleged involvement in a 1993 shootout that killed Roman
Catholic Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo, who had spoken out
against the drug trade.

Palma was convicted in January of weapons charges and illegal
association, but a sixyear prison term was later reduced to only
2« years.

Among charges dropped Wednesday the judge said there was
insufficient evidence were nine counts of murder for the
killings of nine relatives and associates of rival Miguel Angel
Felix Gallardo, allegedly in revenge for the brutal killings of
Palma's first wife and two children.

Palma's colleagues have brought him more grief than the justice
system.

Felix Gallardo, an allyturnedrival, decapitated Palma's first
wife and sent her head to Palma in a box, Mexican news media have
reported. He then reportedly threw Palma's two children off a
bridge.

The remains of Claudia Mesa and the children are now enshrined in
the Jardines del Valle cemetery in Culiacan, capital of Sinaloa,
the northern home state of both Palma and Felix Gallardo.

The unmarked crypt, supported by white marble columns and lined
with basreliefs, is topped with a dome adorned with a fresco
depicting the three in angelic robes.