MEXICO CiTYMexico is quietly form
ing a new "elite unit" against organized
crime and drug trafficking. but it will take
several months. if not years. before the
group of police commandos.~invesdgators,
lawyers and Judges begins to work effec
tively against criminals, officials here ac
knowledged.
Mexico's government. which has been
frustrated by corruption In Its police and
antidrug fotres. has contemplated the
need for a specialized unit since 1995. when
it began drafting new laws against organ
ized crime. The anticrlme legislation was
approved last year. and included a' man
date to form an elite unit~
Since reports about the unit surfaced
recently. Mexican officials have declined
to clahiora,t.e. A senior official here Cx
plained thit Mexico Is trying to protect the
Ursi few members fiom outside infittences
and pressures. Nevertheless. German Fer
nandez. special counsel to President Sr
nesto Zedillo. said: "The unit exists and
has the Ilegall right and necessity to
exist~"
A U.S. official said about 20 police
and prosecutors are in training already;
the unit could climb io 300 members.
Mexico will Invoke bilateral agreements
with countries such as Israel and Prance
tha; can offer training on everything from
electronic espionage io InvestIgative tac
tIcs Once the unit is opetational. it
will seek to work with Judges, who will be
allowed to rule on sensitive cases anony
mouslyunder the new laws provided by the
anticrime legislation. Mr. Fernander ac
knowledged.
`We will have a small. vetted unit"
independent from other drugfighting
agencies. said one Mexican offIcIal who
requested anonymity. "You have to give
them pensions. Insurance and a good sal
ary. The challenge here goes beyond
drugs. It is InstitutIonal health that we are
looking for."
Officials here acknowledged that cor
ruption and ineptitude havit hobbled drug
fighting efforts. partly as a result of Mex
ico's lack of focus on Judicial reform in
recent years and the high turnover wIthin
Mexico's crimefightIng agencies.
"The great challenge Is to turn evi
denoe into convictions," said Eduando
Ibarrola, a prosecutor in charge of Interna
tional affaIrs at the Jtstlce Ministry. But,
he said. with ordinary federal prosecutors
earnIng about $12,000 a year, and federal
police agents earning even less, the incen
tives for good investigation and police
work are low
The need for a new. professional
Ized antinarcotics force has become more
acute since Qen. Jesus Cutierrez Itebollo,
the former he6d of Mexico's National
Institute for Drug Combat (Itnown as the
`NOD). was arrested earlier this year on
charges of ccoperating with the powerful
Juarez drug cartel. Mexican officials said
the new unit will perhaps absorb certain
elements of the `NOD and military. but will
remain independept from, both organ
izations.
The INOD is only flve~years~id. and
Mexico has had numerous earlier antinar
cotics programs that have floundered
"More elite units won't solve tie problem;
the Idrugl problem is systemic." said
Victor Clark. director of a humanrights
agency in Ttluana that handles many
drugrelated cases.