CITING CORRUPTION, MEXICO SHUTS DRUG UNIT

Military Raids Offices in 11 States; 200 Employees Being Questioned

MEXICO CITY, Jan. 20 -- For the second time in six years, the Mexican
government has dismantled an elite federal anti-drug unit after discovering
evidence that it had been corrupted by drug traffickers.

Closure of the Federal Special Prosecutor's Office for Drug Crimes followed
simultaneous military raids last week on the agency's offices in 11 states.
The raids began in Tijuana, where seven agents are accused of offering to
return nearly five tons of seized marijuana, and two captured drug dealers,
to drug lords in exchange for $2 million.

Attorney General Rafael Macedo de la Concha, whose office oversees the
agency, said over the weekend that all 200 of the agency's employees are
being questioned. He said the agency would be closed permanently and its
functions transferred to an office charged with combating organized crime.

Macedo said the move was part of a restructuring to make the attorney
general's office "a healthy institution." Since he took over in December
2000, more than 800 employees, many of them federal police officers, have
been suspended, fired or charged with crimes. Another 1,300 are under
investigation for corruption, he said.

The closed agency, roughly the equivalent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration, was created in 1997. It replaced a similar agency that was
dismantled after its director, Army Gen. Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, was
discovered to be on the payroll of Amado Carrillo Fuentes, one of Mexico's
most notorious drug lords. He was convicted and is serving a 71-year prison
sentence.

"We are not going to rest until these federal agencies have been totally
cleaned up," said President Vicente Fox, who has promised a "war without
mercy" on organized crime.

U.S. officials welcomed the agency's closure and said it was further
evidence that Fox was serious about attacking Mexico's drug cartels. Fox
has won high marks from many law enforcement officials for key blows
against drug lords, including last year's arrest of Benjamin Arellano
Felix, the reputed head of the ultra-violent Tijuana cartel bearing his
family name.

"I like what I see," said Donald J. Thornhill Jr., a spokesman for the DEA
in San Diego who has worked with Mexican officials for many years. "I think
the Fox administration is sincere about addressing systemic corruption."

Despite praise for the swift dismantling of the agency, its demise was
another sobering reminder that virtually no Mexican anti-drug agency has
remained free of infiltration by powerful drug gangs.

The closure of the anti-drug agency is further evidence of the expanding
role of the Mexican military in counter-drug efforts, which has provoked
mixed reactions.

Macedo de la Concha is a former army general and has surrounded himself
with key advisers from the military, to which he maintains close ties.
Since he took over two years ago, the attorney general's office has
coordinated activities closely with the military. Arellano Felix, for
example, was arrested by elite military commandos, then turned over to
Macedo's investigators for questioning.

While many praise the military's anti-drug efforts, others worry that too
much responsibility is being given to an institution with scant public
oversight. By tradition, the Mexican military operates largely
autonomously. While Fox is commander in chief, many of the military's basic
functions, including its budgets and military justice, remain beyond
civilian or public scrutiny.

"Because it's such a hermetically sealed institution and seems to be
unwilling to open up to public scrutiny, we think it's risky to give it
more control and authority over the anti-drug efforts," said Eric Olson, a
Mexico specialist at Amnesty International in Washington.

Olson noted that the military has had its share of drug-related corruption,
including the arrest of Gutierrez Rebollo. Two other generals, Mario Arturo
Acosta Chaparro and Francisco Quiroz Hermosillo, are currently imprisoned
on drug charges.