Pubdate: Fri, 19 Feb 1999
Source: Reuters
Copyright: 1999 Reuters Limited.

MEXICAN SENATOR SLAMS U.S. MISSION ON DRUG WAR

MEXICO CITY, - A Mexican senator on Friday
questioned the motives of a U.S. congressional delegation visiting
this week to gather facts on Mexico's anti-drug efforts.

"Receiving them will not be a very agreeable task, but I believe we
must receive them, listen to them and give precise answers to what we
believe are their mistaken appraisals," Martha Lara, president of
Mexico's Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, said.

Florida Republican Representative John Mica, chairman of the House of
Representatives subcommittee on criminal justice, drug policy and
human resources, was in Mexico on Friday to lead an eight-member
congressional delegation on a three-day trip.

The trip is part of a yearly ritual of visits and rhetoric ahead of
the U.S. decision on whether major drug-producing or transshipment
countries are "fully cooperating" in the drug war. Nations not
certified by the president and Congress as partners in the drug war
can lose a range of U.S. economic and trade benefits.

Mica supports overturning Mexico's certification for what he calls
"endemic" corruption and for what some U.S. officials have called a
year of dismal results in Mexico's anti-drug efforts.

Mexican officials find the certification process offensive and
one-sided.

Lara told local broadcaster Radio Formula that Mica was seeking to
promote himself personally by criticising Mexico's drug-fighting efforts.

"This visit is part of his personal promotion. He must think that he
is gathering votes or sympathy," said Lara, a senator for the ruling
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
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MAP posted-by: Derek Rea