Senate Panel Seeks Travel Warning on Mexico

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has voted to require the State Department to warn U.S. citizens of the possible dangers of traveling in Mexico until those accused of murdering U.S. drug agent Enrique S. Camarena are brought to trial and a verdict is rendered.

The requirement for a travel advisory, reflecting building congressional frustration with Mexican law enforcement efforts, was attached Tuesday as an amendment to the State Department’s fiscal 1986 authorization bill. A similar measure is under consideration by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

If adopted by both Houses, it would mark the first time that Congress has directed the State Department to impose a travel advisory, according to legal authorities in the department.

Blunt Criticism

U.S. drug officials have been unusually blunt in their criticism of Mexico’s investigation of the Feb. 7 abduction and murder of Camarena, who worked for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and of a Mexican pilot who flew missions for the DEA. But the State Department has resisted pressure to advise Americans not to travel in Mexico.

“We do not believe that we should take an instrument of policy that is intended for the protection of American citizens and use it to punish a government for whatever purpose,” said Rayburn Hesse, a special assistant for congressional affairs in the State Department’s bureau of international narcotics matters.

“We have considered issuing a travel advisory for Mexico and decided that it is not warranted at this time,” Hesse said. “First, it’s a bad precedent in general. Second, it would make it impossible for the traveler to understand if a warning is issued for political purposes or because a situation really is dangerous.”

The travel advisory amendment, introduced by Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), cited not only Camarena’s murder but also “the disappearance of numerous other Americans in Mexico.” It concluded that violence by drug traffickers constitutes “a danger to the safety of the U.S. citizens traveling in Mexico.”

3 Held for Trial

On March 19, a federal magistrate in Mexico City ordered that three Jalisco state policemen be held for trial in the kidnaping and murder of Camarena. Four other people, including three more state judicial police and a former member of the same force, were jailed on charges involving drug possession and trafficking and sale of arms reserved for military use.

U.S. Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III then met with his Mexican counterpart, Sergio Garcia Ramirez, and reached agreement on resuming the sharing of investigative information in drug cases. U.S. Justice Department sources said that Meese decided to wait four to six weeks after the meeting to see if Mexico’s police officials follow through on the agreement before applying more pressure in the Camarena case.

“If the intent of Congress is to send a message, we’ve already sent a message,” Hesse, the State Department official, said.

Arguing for the amendment Tuesday, Biden conceded that a travel advisory has little direct effect on tourist activity. But he added that it would send “a clear message to Mexican authorities of our disgust with the corruption and reluctance to pursue drug traffickers in their country.”