Pubdate: Wed, 15 Nov 2000
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2000 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  PO Box 120191, San Diego, CA, 92112-0191
Fax: (619) 293-1440
Website: http://www.uniontrib.com/
Forum: http://www.uniontrib.com/cgi-bin/WebX
Author: Gregory Alan Gross, Staff Writer

ALL EYES ON FOX, DEA OFFICIAL SAYS

Next Mexican Chief's Drug Stance Awaited

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is "cautiously optimistic" about 
the commitment of Mexican President-elect Vicente Fox to tackle the twin 
problems of drug trafficking and corruption.

At the same time, however, DEA Administrator Donnie Marshall said yesterday 
that he was "not happy with the results we have seen out of Mexico."

"They have not been able to really dismantle any of the major drug 
trafficking organizations on their own," Marshall said.

In a wide-ranging question-and-answer session with the Union-Tribune 
editorial board, Marshall said the DEA will watch closely to see how Fox, 
who takes office Dec. 1, responds to U.S. efforts to extradite major 
Mexican drug traffickers.

"I think the real measure of whether we're going to be successful in 
dismantling these Mexican cartels is the arrest of the leadership and their 
extradition back to the U.S.," he said.

"I think it (extradition) is the real watershed which will determine 
whether or not they will have any real, substantial or lasting success 
against these drug cartels in the foreseeable future."

Extradition "would send shock waves through these (Mexican drug) cartels," 
Marshall said.

"It would send a message that they are no longer immune to arrest and 
prosecution in Mexico," he said.

Marshall said he met with Fox briefly after Fox's victory in Mexico's 
presidential election last summer. The president-elect seems sincere about 
taking on the drug traffickers and the corruption they generate, Marshall 
said, but Fox faces "an uphill battle."

Mexico's willingness to extradite suspected drug cartel leaders to the 
United States will be crucial in battling the cartels such as the Arelleno 
Felix organization, based in Tijuana, Marshall said.

Marshall also said he favors the annual certification of countries as 
allies in the U.S. "war on drugs," a process that has angered Mexico City 
for years. The certification process determines whether countries qualify 
for U.S. aid in combatting narcotics, based on the country's own anti-drug 
efforts.

"I think it's a useful tool," he said, citing Colombia as one country where 
certification had worked.

"Colombia has made some substantial progress over the last few years," he 
said. "I think certification served to keep pressure up on Colombia, and 
they made progress that they would not have made quite as quickly or 
dramatically without certification.

Marshall said he was interested in recent Mexican media reports that the 
Arellano Felix organization has had contacts with Colombian rebels who 
control areas where raw materials for drugs are cultivated, but said he did 
not know whether the reports were true.

Closer to home, Marshall took a dim view of California's passage last week 
of Proposition 36, saying it was part of an organized and well-financed 
effort to "soften the image of drugs."

Marshall included campaigns for medical uses of marijuana and industrial 
hemp as examples of such efforts.
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