Pubdate: Sat, 02 Sep 2000
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2000 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  750 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, CA 95190
Fax: (408) 271-3792
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Author: John Rice, Associated Press

2 GENERALS HELD BY MEXICO ON DRUG CHARGES

MEXICO CITY -- Two senior generals allegedly linked to a powerful drug 
cartel have been arrested in the Mexican military's biggest scandal since 
the general who headed anti-drug efforts was arrested in 1997 on charges of 
protecting the same traffickers.

Retired Division Gen. Francisco Quiroz Hermosillo and active Brig. Gen. 
Mario Arturo Acosta Chaparro face drug-trafficking charges, and Quiroz also 
is accused of bribery, prosecutors from Mexico's defense secretariat said 
at a news conference late Thursday. Both are being held at a military prison.

Mexico's military has played a prominent role in attacking drug smuggling 
in Mexico, making it a target for efforts at corruption by drug dealers.

The military's biggest scandal occurred in February 1997, when the head of 
Mexico's anti-drug agency, Gen. JesFAs Gutierrez Rebollo, was arrested and 
later convicted of aiding trafficker Amado Carrillo Fuentes.

Military and civilian prosecutors gave few details of the new cases during 
their news conference, but Mexican newspapers reported Friday that both men 
were involved in Mexico's fight against leftist guerrillas during the 1970s.

Quiroz was director-general of military transport from 1989 until his 
retirement in June and was a former military attache at Mexico's embassy in 
Japan.

Human rights groups had accused Acosta of being involved in the torture and 
disappearances of suspected leftists during the government crackdown on 
leftist rebels in Guerrero state in the 1970s.

He had served as the judicial police chief for Guerrero state during that era.

The newspaper Reforma reported in 1998 that both men were under 
investigation for possible links to Carrillo Fuentes at that time, citing 
sources both in Mexico and the United States.

Quiroz continued to hold a high-level position for another two years.

The chief military prosecutor, Col. Rafael Macedo, told the news conference 
Thursday that testimony from witnesses and other evidence led officials to 
conclude the two men had aided Carrillo Fuentes, head of the so-called 
Juarez Cartel.

Carrillo Fuentes, who died after plastic surgery in July 1997, was known as 
the ``Lord of the Skies'' for his use of jetliners to smuggle vast 
quantities of drugs into Mexico and then onto the United States.
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