TERMS SET ON ANTIDRUG AID PACKAGE TO MEXICO FROM US

Mexico's top diplomat for North America announced yesterday that the
United States and Mexico have come to terms on a proposed $1 billion,
two-year aid package to help Mexico fight drug trafficking.

The remarks by Carlos Rico, Mexico's undersecretary for North American
affairs, were the first public disclosure by a top official in either
country about the size of an aid deal that has been quietly negotiated
for months. Rico, who surprised many here by making his announcement
at an academic conference, said the two countries would make a joint
declaration in the coming days. John Walters, the White House drug
policy chief, also has said an announcement is forthcoming, but the
Bush administration has not released details.

The package, Rico said, will be called the Joint Strategy to Combat
Organized Crime and must be approved by the US Congress. Its size
rivals that of Plan Colombia, an ongoing program launched in 2000 to
eradicate coca production and suppress Marxist rebels in the Andean
nation. That package involves about $600 million to $700 million a
year.

On Capitol Hill, lawmakers are preparing for President Bush to request
the aid money and are considering rushing through a supplemental
spending bill as Congress nears the end of its budgeting process, said
US Representative Henry Cuellar, Democrat of Texas.