Pubdate: Mon, 4 Sep 2000 Source: El Paso Times (TX) Copyright: 2000 El Paso Times Contact: P.O.Box 20, El Paso, Texas 79999 Fax: (915) 546-6415 Website: http://www.borderlandnews.com/ Author: Diana Washington Valdez Note: Diana Washington Valdez May Be Reached At 546-6140 Or At additional articles on Mexico are available at http://www.mapinc.org/mexico.htm 7 GENERALS NOW ACCUSED IN MEXICO'S WAR ON DRUGS With last week's arrests of Gens. Mario Acosta Chaparro and Francisco Quiroz Hermosillo, Mexico has arrested a total of seven generals on suspicion of drug-related corruption. According to the U.S. General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, five of Mexico's military generals were arrested in the late 1990s, just as the country had agreed to give its military an expanded role in the "war against drugs." In 1995, the U.S. defense secretary visited Mexico to strengthen "the military-to-military relationship" within the context of drug interdiction, the GAO said. The U.S. Defense Department gave Mexico more than $70 million in fiscal years 1996 and 1997 for equipment. War On Drugs U.S. foreign policy leaders thought using the military would help Mexico counter the corruption of its civilian law-enforcement agencies, Matthew Yarrow wrote for American Friends Services Committee in a report titled "Still Pulling Strings: The U.S. Military in Latin America after the Cold War." Instead, it appears the drug lords began bribing high-ranking military officials with their formidable assets, just as they had bribed judges, prosecutors and law officials. Despite pledges for bilateral cooperation, the GAO noted that Mexico had yet to extradite to the United States any Mexican national who was a major drug trafficker. Further, the flow of drugs into the United States through Mexico continues without much of a dent, the GAO report said. The Generals Acosta is a native of Chihuahua state. He and Quiroz specialized in counterintelligence. Both enjoyed brilliant careers as specialized crime fighters and intelligence experts. They became famous while serving on a special task force to rescue Ruben Figueroa, the governor of Guerrero state who was kidnapped in the 1970s. In 1990, Chacon published a book called "Mexico's Subversive Movements" that drew upon on his experience in operations against dissident movements. Authorities said Chacon's name surfaced recently in connection with the "mass graves" investigation in Juarez. No one has been charged in the deaths of nine people (including four El Pasoans) who were found in the clandestine graves in late 1999. Investigators said the dead were victims of the Carrillo Fuentes group. The cartel grew deep roots in Chihuahua state during the 1990s. The depositions are part of what is known in Mexican federal law enforcement as the "macro or maxi proceso," a voluminous document that serves as an arrest warrant for numerous suspects with alleged ties to drug dealers. The warrant was mentioned at a June 8 hearing for Lucio Cano Barraza, a Juarez lawyer who was arrested at his West El Paso home on Mexican charges of drug smuggling and money laundering. An extradition hearing for Cano, who denies the allegations, is scheduled for Sept. 21 in El Paso's U.S. district court. - --- MAP posted-by: Thunder