Criticism Not Reagan Views, Meese Tells Mexico

Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III has told Mexico’s attorney general that sharp criticism by U.S. officials of public corruption and drug trafficking in Mexico does not reflect the feelings of the Reagan Administration, Mexican Atty. Gen. Sergio Garcia Ramirez said Friday.

Garcia Ramirez said that Meese called him and said that the Administration does not concur with strong criticism of Mexico by officials of the State and Justice departments and the U.S. Cus1953459571Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee.

A spokesman for the Customs Service said the agency stands by its criticism. A spokesman for the State Department, which supported customs, said he had no idea what Meese was talking about.

Conversation Confirmed

Terry Eastland, spokesman for the Justice Department, confirmed that the conversation had taken place. He would not discuss Meese’s statements to Garcia Ramirez, but said that Meese believes “the charges don’t reflect the views of the President, the U.S. government or the Department of Justice.”

Eastland said that Meese also told Garcia Ramirez that he “appreciates the working relationship we have developed with the Mexicans,” particularly in light of last month’s drug enforcement meetings in Cancun, Mexico.

A statement from the Mexican attorney general’s office said that Meese “deplored the comments made in hearings of a Senate subcommittee of the United States that do not reflect, in any way, the opinion of President Ronald Reagan or the point of view of the Justice Department.”

At the hearing, U.S. Customs Service Commissioner William von Raab complained of “an ingrained corruption in the Mexican law enforcement establishment,” which he described as “massive . . . all the way up and down the ladder. Until it is corrected we will never solve the problem.”

Alien Efforts Seen Hurt

Alan C. Nelson, Immigration and Naturalization Service commissioner, said earlier this week that Von Raab’s “excess rhetoric” is hampering cooperative efforts between the two countries to stem the flow of illegal aliens.