Pubdate: Sat, 9 Sep 2000 Source: Ft. Worth Star-Telegram (TX) Copyright: 2000 Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas Contact: http://www.star-telegram.com/ Forum: http://www.star-telegram.com/comm/forums/ Author: Suzanne Gamboa, Associated Press HUTCHISON PROPOSES MORATORIUM ON EVALUATION OF MEXICO'S ANTI-DRUG PERFORMANCE WASHINGTON -- Wanting to give Mexico a fresh start, Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has proposed calling a time out on the annual evaluation that the United States gives its southern neighbor on its drug-fighting performance. During a break in debate on China trade Thursday, Hutchison introduced a measure that would suspend the anti-drug certification process for Mexico next year. The State Department annually evaluates the drug fighting performance of other countries according to a congressional mandate. In theory, economic sanctions could be imposed if a country's performance is deemed inadequate. Despite feelings in Congress that Mexico has not done enough, it has not been decertified. Mexico's next evaluation is due in March. Hutchison, a Republican, said she is "more optimistic than ever that Mexico is prepared to make the sacrifices necessary to contain the drug threat. "I think democracy is beginning to be real in Mexico and we want to do everything we can to encourage this democracy," she said. By March, the United States and Mexico will have new administrations. Mexican President Vicente Fox, whose election ended the 71-year reign of the Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI, takes office in December. The winner of the U.S. elections in November would take office in January. Hutchison said that would thrust the new administrations into a contentious process before they've had the chance to plan for cooperation on drug interdiction. Hutchison was joined in sponsoring the legislation by California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who has criticized Mexico's performance on drug trafficking and once called for the country's decertification. "I co-sponsor this legislation today as an experiment to see that, if by putting aside contentiousness of a certification debate next March, there can be a new, more productive process," Feinstein said. Other co-sponsors include Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and has been a leading spokesman on Latin American issues. Although it is late in the congressional session, the measure has bypassed the committee process and is on the Senate calendar for consideration for vote. Domenici, as a member of the Appropriations committee and a senior committee chairman, will be involved in crafting the Senate's final omnibus spending package, in which the Hutchison measure could be included, giving it another avenue for passage. Mexico and other countries have labeled the certification process as unfair, unilateral and counterproductive. Other measures have been proposed in Congress to change the certification process, including one by Dodd, but have failed. Recently, U.S.-drug czar Barry McCaffrey said that he is confident the next administration would change the way drug fighting efforts are measured in the Americas. The Hutchison proposal demonstrates that support for changing the process is gaining support, said Jose Antonio Zabalgoitia, a Mexican embassy spokesman. "I sincerely expect this proposal signals not only a new U.S. approach, but also a new era in bilateral counter-narcotics cooperation," Mexican Ambassador Jesus Reyes-Heroles said in a statement. Zabalgoitia emphasized, however, that the proposal doesn't alter Mexico's view of the certification process and won't influence his country's current anti-drug policies. - --- MAP posted-by: Don Beck