Clinton Recertifies Mexico Drug-Effort Decision Angers Many In Congress
President Clinton gave a crucial vote of confidence Friday to Mexico’s scandal-ridden anti-narcotics efforts, certifying to Congress that the government of President Ernesto Zedillo has been a reliable ally in the global drug war.
Clinton’s decision, coming 10 days after Zedillo’s hand-picked drug czar was charged with taking bribes from Mexican drug lords, spared Mexico embarrassing sanctions that diplomats on both sides of the border feared could sour relations between the two neighbors.
But the move angered some members of Congress, who had called on Clinton to sanction Mexico for rampant corruption that has reached into the highest levels of government and compromised efforts to stem the flood of cocaine and other illicit drugs into the United States via Mexico.
The decision was part of a congressionally mandated annual process through which Clinton must assess the anti-narcotics efforts of Mexico and 31 other countries where illicit drugs are produced or transported.
Clinton certified that 23 of those countries are cooperating fully with U.S. anti-narcotics efforts and nine others - Afghanistan, Belize, Burma, Colombia, Iran, Lebanon, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria - are not. Belize, Lebanon and Pakistan were granted a special national security waver, exempting them from reduced U.S. aid and other economic sanctions.
The Congress may overturn any or all of Clinton’s decisions provided that both houses vote to do so within 30 days.
Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., vowed to introduce legislation next week aimed at blocking Clinton’s decision to certify Mexico, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said she would sponsor a companion resolution in the Senate.
“There is absolutely rampant corruption in Mexico,” said Barr, a former U.S. attorney for President Ronald Reagan. “I don’t know at this point whether anybody can be trusted in Mexico.”
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms, R-N.C., called the certification “a fraud.”
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright defended Clinton’s decision, saying Zedillo has made important gains in combating the drug trade.
“He has earned our confidence and support,” Albright said, adding that while corruption in Mexico remains “a tremendous problem, we would be naive to assume that any Mexican leader could defeat it quickly.”
She said Zedillo moved quickly last week to fire and arrest his top anti-drug official, Gen. Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, once corruption allegations surfaced, in “an act of political courage of the highest order.”
Perhaps more telling, Albright stressed the importance of economic and political relations between the United States and its giant neighbor to the south.
“Our relationship with Mexico is strong and among the most important we have with any country in the world,” Albright said. “In the last few years, President Clinton has repeatedly stood by Mexico at difficult moments.”
She cited Clinton’s support for the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993 and his backing of a $13.5-billion peso bailout two years later.
“These decisions were not entirely popular,” Albright said, “but they were right. … This is another difficult but correct decision.”
The Mexican Embassy hailed Clinton’s decision as recognition of Mexico’s anti-drug campaign, and pledged Mexico would improve its efforts.
“We understand that a lot more has to be done, by everybody,” said embassy spokesman Jose Antonio Zabalgoitia. “The drug trade is our main national security threat. It is a threat to our institutions, and to our society.”
Colombia got a thumbs down from Clinton for the second straight year in its efforts to curb drug production and trafficking.
Colombia is the source of the vast majority of cocaine reaching American streets.
The State Department scoured Colombia - whose president, Ernesto Samper, was elected three years ago with the help of at least $6 million in contributions from drug lords - for a law enforcement climate that allowed a 32 percent increase last year in Colombia’s production of coca, the raw material in cocaine.
“Corruption remains rampant at the highest levels of the Colombian government,” Albright said at a news conference to announce the decisions. “Senior officials are failing to cooperate with us in the fight against drugs.”
Colombia’s ambassador to the United States, Juan Carlos Esguerra, decried the decertification as unfair and counterproductive.
“It seems that Colombia has become a scapegoat,” Esguerra said in a prepared statement. “The only people who will smile with satisfaction when they hear this news are the narcotics traffickers themselves.”
xxxx NOT CERTIFIED Nine countries were not certified as cooperating fully with U.S. anti-narcotics efforts: Afghanistan, Belize, Burma, Colombia, Iran, Lebanon, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria.