DEA CHIEF DISCUSSES COLOMBIAN ACTION

MEXICO CITY -- Drug Enforcement Agency chief Asa Hutchinson said Colombia's
crackdown on rebels will aid in the war against illegal drugs.

Colombian President Andres Pastrana on Thursday ordered a military attack
on a vast rebel territory, ending a three-year peace process hours after
guerrillas allegedly hijacked a domestic airliner and kidnapped a senator
onboard.

"I see it clearly as a benefit in that region," Hutchinson said Thursday,
adding that anti-drug efforts "would have to be a focus" of the military
campaign.

Pastrana gave the Switzerland-sized zone to the Revolutionary Armed Forces
of Colombia, or FARC, in 1998 to encourage peace negotiations.

Hutchinson welcomed Pastrana's reference to rebel links to drug
trafficking, saying it was "clear recognition" of long-standing U.S.
allegations.

"If the military and police enter the (rebel) zone, you're going to find
cocaine diversion labs there, (drug) labs," he said Thursday. "You're going
to have intelligence" on trafficking operations, he said.

Making his first trip to Mexico since taking over the DEA in August,
Hutchinson praised the administration of President Vicente Fox and Attorney
General Rafael Macedo de la Concha. He singled out efforts to root out
corruption and improve training of anti-narcotics agents.

Yet despite a series of major seizures over the past year, Hutchinson
conceded there was no sign that the supply, price or quality of illegal
drugs reaching the United States had been affected.

Mexico's legal system also has frustrated one U.S. goal: extraditing
alleged drug bosses for trial in the United States.

Mexico shipped 17 suspects to the United States over the past year, but its
Supreme Court last year barred extradition of some of the most-wanted
suspects because they could face the death penalty or a life sentence.
Mexico and many other countries believe those punishments violate human rights.

Hutchinson said the Mexican government "may have to look at a legislative
solution" making such extraditions legal.

Hutchinson said U.S. officials also are studying ways to restrict the flow
of opium and heroin out of Afghanistan, historically a major producer.

Reporters there have seen vast fields of opium poppies after the fall of
the restrictive Taliban government during the U.S.-led war on terrorism.
That war followed the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States.