Pubdate: Mon, 01 Jun 1998 Source: Washington Post Section: A17 Contact: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ Author: M. Delal Baer THE U.S. AT ODDS WITH ITSELF ON MEXICO Mexican government officials weren't the only ones caught by surprise by the recent announcement of a massive sting operation ("Casablanca") against Mexican bank officials for money laundering. Most of the American government, at the highest levels, also was in the dark about the operation. Janet Reno, Madeleine Albright, drug policy coordinator Barry McCaffrey and Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin rushed to make apologies and clarifications to the Mexicans. Coordination has never been a strong point of U.S. foreign policy, but in the case of Mexico, we have reached the point at which semi-autonomous law enforcement agencies such as U.S. Customs and the Drug Enforcement Agency are in the pilot's seat. Frustrated by slow progress, DEA agents and the agency's administrator, Thomas Constantine, point the finger at Mexican corruption during the annual drug certification season, in an effort to incite Congress to decertify Mexico. Sensitive to Mexico's historical fear of American intervention and anxious to keep the complex bilateral agenda between Mexico and the United States moving forward, the State Department fears that drugs have become the tail that wags the dog. To the cops, overly solicitous U.S. officials sound like cheerleaders for the Mexicans. The lesson of Casablanca is that when American foreign policy toward Mexico is dictated by law enforcement, the consequences cascade throughout the whole bilateral relationship in a dangerously accidental way. For example, the Casablanca announcement occurred at a delicate moment in President Ernesto Zedillo's negotiations with the Mexican Congress over several key pieces of financial legislation, including the bank rescue, opening the banking sector to more foreign investment, legislating the autonomy of the central bank and strengthening the Mexican bank regulatory agency. Was it the intention of the Treasury Department to throw a monkey wrench into those negotiations? Moreover, the operation resulted in opposition party calls for the resignation or impeachment of, among others, Mexican Attorney General Jorge Madrazo and central bank governor Guillermo Ortiz. Was it the intention of U.S. policy to precipitate calls for the resignation of senior Mexican government officers? The market capitalization of Mexican banks plunged by more than $800 million after Reno's press conference panicked investors by suggesting that the U.S. government lacked confidence in the Mexican financial system. Did the U.S. Federal Reserve bail out Mexico and its financial system after the 1995 devaluation so that Customs could undermine it once again? I think not. Conspiratorially minded Mexicans can be forgiven if they try to read devious intentions into the destructive chaos of American foreign policy. It may not be the job of U.S. law enforcement officials to give a damn about the political or economic fallout of their unilateral operations, but it is the job of their superiors to ensure that operations are conducted with at least minimal respect for signed agreements and rules of bilateral cooperation. I would like to meet the U.S. senator who graciously would accept the undercover police of a foreign nation operating on American soil without permission. It is worrisome that some of the more frustrated elements of the U.S. law enforcement community seem to be courting a crisis in bilateral antidrug cooperation. Rumors are afoot that the DEA is prepared to withdraw all agents over issues such as their right to bear arms in Mexico and be accorded diplomatic immunity. Thus the scene is set for another confrontation in the 1999 certification, in which the DEA likely is to manipulate the terms of the congressional debate and the diplomats will scramble to prevent the United States from blundering toward the Armageddon of a possible Senate decertification. What a victory for Janet Reno and Customs. They have proven that if U.S. undercover agents wave $30 million at the bank branch managers of a poor country, they can succeed in corrupting them as easily as do the drug traffickers. For this brilliant revelation we put U.S.-Mexican relations at risk? The writer is director of the Mexico Project of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. - --- Checked-by: Melodi Cornett