Pubdate: Wed, 15 Dec 1999 Source: San Luis Obispo County Tribune (CA) Copyright: 1999 The Tribune Contact: P.O. Box 112, San Luis Obispo, CA 93406-0112 Fax: 805.781.7905 Website: http://www.thetribunenews.com/ Author: A Waco (Texas) Tribune-Herald Editorial REMOVE KID GLOVES ON MEXICAN DRUGS Now is the perfect time for the United States to put pressure on Mexico to finally crack down on that country's drug lords whose deadly products damage American society. The occasion is a joint U.S.-Mexican police effort to recover up to 100 bodies from a killing field on the ranch of a Mexican drug lord across the border from El Paso near Ciudad Juarez. Tipped off by an informant, about 65 FBI agents joined Mexican authorities, many in ski masks to protect their identify from Mexican drug lords, and began the search for bodies reportedly buried on the ranch, one of the many well-guarded smuggling havens located along the border. Regrettably, Mexico has allowed its local, state and federal police forces to be corrupted by drug traffickers. Due to the heavy international publicity from the search for the bodies of hundreds of vanished or kidnapped people, both Mexican and American citizens, the right authorities in Mexico may be persuaded to finally arrest the scores of Mexican citizens already indicted in the United States for drug smuggling and distribution. Now is the time to remove the kid gloves and pressure the Mexican authorities to gather up the resolve needed to rid their nation of an international scourge in their midst. - - The Waco (Texas) Tribune-Herald - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D