MEXICAN DRUG 'MUSEUM' REMAINS CLOSED TO PUBLIC

Tools Of The Trade On Exclusive Display

MEXICO CITY - Soldiers on a mission to destroy marijuana crops were
hiking near the Pacific Coast when they came across chilling words
scrawled on a piece of cardboard posted near a field of dark green
leaves:

``You are surrounded. If you destroy the plants, you won't leave here
alive.''

Nowadays, the sign, along with machine guns, a rocket launcher,
two-way radios, thick gold chains and hundreds of other artifacts are
part of what could be called a giant trophy case for the drug war.
SEARCH OUR BAY AREA LISTINGS The displays, though not open to the
public, are part of the ``narco museum'' at the Ministry of Defense
headquarters for anti-drug operations.

The latest additions -- lizard-skin cowboy boots, a gold-plated
.38-caliber handgun and a bulletproof flight jacket -- were acquired
when reputed Gulf Cartel boss Osiel C=E1rdenas was caught in Matamoros
in March.

The museum is not a tourist attraction. Protected by guards and
surveillance cameras, it is opened for only a few visitors each year,
including political leaders, visiting dignitaries, counternarcotics
trainees and journalists.

``We are not trying to glorify the drug traffickers, but the
contrary,'' said Capt. Victor Manuel Jim=E9nez, the tour guide on a
recent afternoon. ``We are presenting the problem and what they are
doing to us.''

The military is considering opening the museum, which was launched in
1985, to college students pursuing careers as prosecutors or judges.

DEA collects stuff, too

The Mexican military, which has about 30,000 troops dedicated to drug
interdiction, is not the only entity to collect the physical trappings
of the drug war into a museum and educational tool.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Colombia's National Police
and Thailand's Mae Fah Luang Foundation have such museums.

But in Mexico, a trampoline for 70 percent of the marijuana and
cocaine smuggled into the United States, drug cartels are considered
the greatest threat to national security.

The museum is filled with items that in the United States likely would
be locked in evidence vaults or destroyed. Here, they form a record of
how illegal drugs are produced, how they are smuggled, how they are
guarded and even the so-called narcoculture.

CDs by popular musicians containing narcocorridos, ballads that
glorify traffickers, sit in a glass case below a display with lyrics
from groups such as Los Tigres del Norte.

There are confiscated gas tanks, truck tires, stuffed armadillos, a
framed image of the Virgin of Guadalupe and even a pie, all used to
smuggle drugs.

Bizarre collection

The drugs themselves are central to the displays and remain stuffed in
their hiding places. Hundreds of dried marijuana buds are piled in a
confiscated dehumidifer that shows how the herb is prepared, and other
bundles sit beside presses that made bricks for smuggling.

Some displays touch on the bizarre, such as the stuffed drug-sniffing
German shepherd. There's a mannequin dressed in classic narco kingpin
attire with expensive cowboy boots, gold bracelets and necklaces and a
fist-sized skull pendant.

The most chilling artifacts are the weapons. In addition to
military-grade hardware, such as an M-60 machine gun and an AK-47
assault rifle, are eight gold-plated pistols, each adorned with a drug
trafficker's nickname or signature design.

Amado Carrillo Fuentes, once head of the Ju=E1rez cartel, had a pistol
with his initials in jewels.

``They are symbols for the traffickers, like the tommy gun in its era
or the Winchester Peacemaker in its era,'' said Capt. Luis Espino, an
infantry and public affairs officer. ``If we find one of those
submarines like they had in Colombia, we are going to have to expand.''

A wall of honor lists the 437 members of the Mexican military who have
died since 1976 fighting the cartels.