Pubdate: Thur, 04 Mar 1999
Source: New York Post (NY)
Contact:  http://nypostonline.com/
Copyright: 1999, N.Y.P. Holdings, Inc.
Author: ROBERT D. NOVAK

DENYING MEXICO'S CORRUPTION

DRUG Enforcement Administration (DEA) chief Thomas A. Constantine,
known as a cop's cop averse to political equivocation, will confront
an unwelcome question today before the House subcommittee on drug
policy: Do you favor certifying Mexico as "fully cooperating" in the
war on drugs?

The decision was President Clinton's: Last Friday he approved the
ritualistic annual certification that spares Mexico from trade and
other economic sanctions.

But two days earlier, Constantine's 20 page single spaced statement to
a Senate narcotics control caucus candidly told of an unparalleled
levels of corruption within Mexican law enforcement agencies." The
corrupt police protect Mexican-based criminal organizations" that now
lead the world in distributing illegal drugs to the United States.
Mexican certification has been attacked by Reps. Benjamin Gilman (R
N.Y.) chairman of the House International Relations Committee, and
John Mica' (R.Fla.), who heads the drug policy subcommittee. But in
the hypocrisy of today's Washington, poison pouring in from south of
the border is less important than bilateral trade and the burgeoning
Mexican American vote. Constantine, a 60 year old career policeman
from Buffalo who was New York state superintendent of police before
coming to Washington, would  have been out of character if he had told
the senators less than the truth.

Mexico shows signs of becoming a narco state.

DEA sources indicate drug traffickers taking over most of the area
immediately west and south of Mexico City plus the Baja and Yucatan
peninsulas. The result: an outpouring to the U.S. of high purity, low
price black tar heroin, which can mean rapid addiction or, if
overdosed, a quick death for American youths.

Constantine told the Senate that the major international organized
crime bosses headquartered in Mexico direct the details of their
multibillion dollar business" in America. His chilling specifics: Only
a "limited enforcement action has taken place" on the southwest US.
border against the Arellano Felix Organization, arguably the most
violent" of Mexico's drugtrafficking cartels.

Its leaders appear to be immune to any
law enforcement efforts." When the DEA requested the Mexican government's
help in apprehending one such criminal, it was told that would be
difficult" because of corrupt law enforcement officials" he employs.
Arrested members of this syndicate are neither prosecuted nor extradited.
An estimated $1 million weekly is paid to Mexican:officials to guarantee
the drug  flow along the southwestern U.S. border.

Of 65 members from the Carrillo Fuentes Organization cited in Mexican
arrest warrants a year ago “ no significant cartel member has been
apprehended." Cartel leader Ramon Magana and his associates have been
spotted by Mexican officials, who "failed to take any type of
enforcement action." Miguel Caro Quintero, head of the Caro Quintero
Organization, “apparently fears no repercussions from law enforcement
in Mexico. Achievements by the Mexican government's new Base
Intelligence Units which replaced joint U.S.Mexican operations in 1997
because American agents could not be guaranteed legal and physical
security, “have been minimal." Although the Mexican government in 1997
transferred much of its narcotics enforcement to military units
because of civilian corruption, there are numerous reports of drug
related corruption involving military units." Not surprisingly, they
have not arrested any drug kingpins.

Tom Constantine does not join U.S. Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey in
echoing Clintonian happy talk in praise of Mexican drug enforcement.

Characteristically blunt, he last week expressed “great concern about
the long term prospects" for stopping Mexican drug syndicates that
“are responsible for degrading the quality of life" not only along the
border but “increasingly in cities in middle Arnerica." Considering
official Mexican complicity that argues strongly against
certification.

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