Reagan, Mexico Leader Confer : Phone Talks Focus on Kidnap, Border Tie-Ups

President Miguel de la Madrid assured President Reagan on Friday night that Mexico is devoting “its best efforts” toward finding kidnaped U.S. narcotics agent Enrique S. Camarena.

In a telephone conversation that Mexican officials labeled “friendly and cordial,” de la Madrid also complained that “Operation Intercept”--stepped-up U.S. border searches of Mexican-registered cars for the agent--was causing serious damage on both sides of the border and that it did not further the mutual U.S. and Mexican objective of fighting the illicit drug traffic.

“The president ratified the firm commitment of the Mexican government to maintain the fight against drug trafficking and lamented the disappearance” of Camarena, abducted in Guadalajara on Feb. 7, a communique issued by the president’s office, said.

U.S. officials have expressed concern that Mexican officials may be dragging their feet in the Camarena investigation.

De la Madrid was said to have told Reagan that several Mexican policemen across the country have been killed in the last few days as a result of Mexico’s efforts to control the illicit distribution of drugs.

Although it was not clear who originated the call, which lasted several minutes, the conversation appeared to signal an effort by both governments to overcome the strained relations produced by Camarena’s abduction and the subsequent U.S. reaction.

De la Madrid proposed that the attorneys general of the two countries meet soon “to analyze the situation in depth.” Reagan’s response, the Mexicans said, was a promise to “attend to this suggestion immediately,” although it was not immediately clear if and when the meeting would take place.

The Mexican chief executive also proposed a separate meeting later this year between the two presidents to discuss the state of U.S.-Mexican relations, which were characterized in the communique as a matter “of the highest priority” for Mexico.

Earlier in the day, Atty. Gen. Sergio Garcia Ramirez also insisted at a news conference that his country is making an all-out effort to find the U.S. agent.

The attorney general’s appearance constituted the first attempt by a high-ranking Mexican official to respond to questions about the Camarena case and to offer reassurances that the government does not take the incident lightly.

“We are acting with diligence” to find Camarena, an agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Garcia Ramirez said. He refused to offer details of the search, saying only that an “important number” of Mexican federal and state police agents were involved.

‘Frustration and Discontent’

At one point during his 90-minute news conference, Garcia Ramirez said that there was no proof that the kidnaping was the work of drug dealers. He added, though, that he found the “frustration and discontent” in the United States comprehensible because many of his own agents had been the victims of narcotics traffickers.

Alluding to these deaths and to the Camarena case, he affirmed, “This is a risky, dangerous, difficult business, and the results, we must admit, are often deplorable incidents directed at agents of law enforcement.”

Garcia Ramirez sidestepped questions about a restraining order issued earlier this week by a judge in Guadalajara hampering the search for Camarena. U.S. law enforcement sources, however, said it was believed that at least 18 suspected drug traffickers have sought the court’s protection against house searches or detentions made without a warrant.

The attorney general described the Mexican anti-drug campaign as “firm and vigorous” and declared that Mexico has no intention of allowing the problem to reach the significant levels it has attained in other Latin American nations.

Some newspapers and public commentators have raised the issue of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s presence in Mexico, questioning the need for “foreign police agencies” to operate here, but Garcia Ramirez defended its role as a valued partner in the fight against illicit drugs.