Panel: Scrap Mexico AntiDrug Group

MEXICO CITY (AP) A panel of leading jurists has recommended that Mexico's
corruptionridden antidrug agency be replaced by a special prosecutor who
would report directly to the attorney general's office.

The panel of 12 jurists said the threeyearold National Institute for the
Combat Against Drugs ``has been in an advanced state of deterioration ever
since it was founded.''

The panel made its recommendations during a meeting with President Ernesto
Zedillo on Friday. Excerpts of the meeting were made public in a news release
from the presidential press office.

Zedillo said he will carefully consider the panel's proposals.

The president named the panel, led by constitutional expert Ignacio Burgoa
Orihuela, when institute director Gen. Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo was arrested
10 weeks after he was appointed.

The former drug czar is on trial, accused of being in the pay of Amado
Carrillo Fuentes, Mexico's leading drug baron. Gutierrez, the institute's
second director, has vehemently proclaimed his innocence.