Pubdate: 26 Mar 1999 Source: Reuters Copyright: 1999 Reuters Limited. MEXICO CITY, March 25 (Reuters) - The besieged governor of the Caribbean state of Quintana Roo said on Thursday he was sure he would be cleared of accusations he had links to drug traffickers after having faced 12 hours of questioning by Mexico's special narcotics prosecutor. Gov. Mario Villanueva of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) told a news conference he was interrogated for over 12 hours on Wednesday. He said he had been asked whether he had ties to drug traffickers, had let them ship drugs through his state or had accepted gifts from them. "I'll come away clear from this affair and all its insinuations and accusations because they are baseless," Villanueva said in the news conference at the governor's palace in Chetumal, the capital of a state best known for its beach resort of Cancun. Details of the conference were provided by his office and local media. Villanueva leaves office on April 5 after a six-year term and will be succeeded by another PRI governor. Officials have said the state has become a major conduit for Colombian cocaine making its way to the United States. - --- MAP posted-by: Mike Gogulski