U.S. Drug Czar Confident in Mexico

By BILL CORMIER

MEXICO CITY (AP) U.S. drug czar Barry McCaffrey said Thursday that he is
confident Mexico is building an antidrug program that can be trusted,
despite scandals that have exposed corruption among top officials.

At the end of a 24hour visit to Mexico, McCaffrey told The Associated Press
that he had asked U.S. antidrug officials here about Mexico's drugfighting
program, and came away satisfied.

``I just sat down and listened to the DEA officers in the embassy, and I've
listened to all the Mexican officials, and it is clear to me that there are
(Mexican) police units that we are working with actively and trust,'' he
said.

McCaffrey noted that a ``painful public debate'' had just concluded in
Congress after President Clinton recertified Mexico as an ally in the drug
war despite Mexico's arrest of its drug czar on corruption charges.

Gen. Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo was arrested in February on charges of being in
the pay of a leading cocaine trafficker.

McCaffrey said Clinton would highlight cooperation, not confrontation, in the
antidrug effort when he opens a Latin American tour with a visit to Mexico
starting May 6.

And McCaffrey said he was convinced that Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo,
his new drug czar and top prosecutors and military officials are committed to
building a vigorous drug enforcement program.

``They are now building a cadre of people they believe they can trust. What
we have told them is that we will support that process.''

McCaffrey praised Mexico's new drug czar, Herran Salvatti, for asserting
leadership and installing an elaborate system of vetting new drug agents with
lie detectors, drug tests and background checks.

He said Mexico has achieved important victories, including virtually halting
a practice by Colombian traffickers of transporting multiton loads of
cocaine through Mexico on refitted 727 jetliners.

On Tuesday, more evidence of corruption in Mexico's drugfighting agency
emerged when the Attorney General's office announced that two agents had been
arrested for failing to report a 1.6ton shipment of marijuana they seized.