Pubdate: Sun, 14 Feb 1999
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright: 1999 The Miami Herald
Contact:  http://www.herald.com/
Forum: http://krwebx.infi.net/webxmulti/cgi-bin/WebX?mherald
Author: Dudley Althaus 

CLINTON, ZEDILLO TO HASH OUT MEXICO'S ANTI-DRUG EFFORTS

MEXICO CITY -- President Clinton arrives in Mexico tonight for a
24-hour visit with President Ernesto Zedillo framed by the annual tug
of war between the White House and the U.S. Congress over Mexico's
anti-narcotics efforts.

Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton are scheduled to arrive
in the city of Merida, capital of Yucatan state, for what had been
expected to be a low-key stopover after a trip to storm-ravaged
Central America.

But the trip to Central America was postponed until early next month
because the Senate impeachment trial kept Clinton in Washington.

Clinton, Zedillo and their wives will dine together tonight in Merida.
Then the two leaders will hold talks, along with members of their
Cabinets and staffs, Monday morning.

Despite the brevity of the visit, White House officials say Clinton
and Zedillo will discuss issues ranging from narcotics and immigration
to the 5-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement, which formally
links the economies of Mexico, the United States and Canada.

The Merida meeting comes just weeks before Clinton must make his
annual certification report to Congress stating that Mexico and other
countries are cooperating fully with U.S. efforts to curtail the
international narcotics trade.

Despite years of corruption scandals and evidence of high-level
official involvement with drug-smuggling organizations, no U.S.
administration has ever decertified Mexico on the grounds that its
government was not making a good-faith effort in the drug war.

Last week, Clinton administration officials once again praised
Mexico's efforts in the drug war.

"There's a difference between cooperation and success," State
Department spokesman James Rubin said.

Two-thirds of Colombian cocaine passes through Mexico on its way to
U.S. consumers, U.S. drug enforcement experts say. Mexican narcotics
gangs also produce and ship large quantities of heroin, marijuana and
methamphetamine to the United States.

The certification issue has become an annual ritual in Washington, as
the White House and Congress tussle over Mexico, and an annual torment
in Mexico, where many resent what they see as U.S. meddling in their
country's internal affairs.

Zedillo sent Interior Minister Francisco Labastida to Washington last
week to sway the U.S. administration and Congress. Some members of
Congress publicly vowed again to challenge the President's expected
certification of Mexico.
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