Mexico Threatens to Halt U.S. Anti-Drug Cooperation Over Abduction of Suspect : Foreign policy: The alleged kidnap victim has been charged in the death of American DEA agent Camarena.

Mexico’s attorney general on Wednesday threatened to cut off binational efforts to combat illegal drug trafficking unless the U.S. government explains the “now proven kidnaping and illegal transfer” to the United States of a Mexican doctor indicted in the 1985 killing of an American drug agent.

In a meeting with U.S. Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh, Mexican Atty. Gen. Enrique Alvarez del Castillo made it clear that the Mexican government believes U.S. officials took part in an abduction of the doctor from his office in Guadalajara on April 2.

“Alvarez del Castillo asked for detailed information on the presumed participation of U.S. authorities in the kidnaping and transfer to U.S. territory of Dr. Humberto Alvarez Machain,” said Fernando Arias, a spokesman for the Mexican attorney general.

“He said that if the now-proven kidnaping and illegal transfer are not clarified, that this issue could endanger the binational cooperation that up to now has brought results to both countries in the fight against drug trafficking,” Arias said in a telephone interview.

Alvarez del Castillo and Thornburgh met in the Pacific Coast resort of Ixtapa, where they are to attend a pan-American conference on combatting drug trafficking that opens today. U.S. Ambassador John D. Negroponte and Mexico’s drug czar, Javier Coello Trejo, met with the attorneys general.

Earlier in the day, Mexico’s embassy in Washington submitted a strong diplomatic note to the State Department requesting information about the “possible kidnaping and illegal transfer” of the doctor. The embassy also disclosed that Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari has ordered an investigation of the circumstances in which Alvarez was brought to the El Paso airport and arrested by Drug Enforcement Administration agents there on April 3. The embassy said the investigation has been opened.

Thornburgh on Tuesday ordered a full report from the DEA on the Alvarez incident.

Alvarez, 42, a gynecologist, is one of 19 Mexicans who have been indicted in Los Angeles for the torture and killing of DEA agent Enrique S. Camarena in 1985.

Drug traffickers captured Camarena outside the U.S. Consulate in Guadalajara and tortured him for information on DEA activities and knowledge of alleged corruption among Mexican law enforcement. U.S. officials accuse Alvarez of having observed the torture and administered drugs to revive Camarena for further questioning.

A Mexican official speaking on condition of anonymity said that interviews with Alvarez’s wife, secretary and a niece indicated that a U.S. DEA agent was present during the doctor’s capture in Guadalajara.

The official said the women gave detailed descriptions of “three or four” men who took Alvarez away and that “a tall, foreign-looking man” was among them.

Police have made drawings of the alleged abductors, the official said.

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on the allegation of DEA participation in the abduction, saying it would be “premature” until the DEA report is in Thornburgh’s hands.

A DEA spokesman said he could not comment because Alvarez is involved in “a pending prosecution.”

However, before Thornburgh called for the inquiry, David Runkel, his chief spokesman, said that no U.S. agents had crossed into Mexico to take part in apprehending Alvarez.

According to the Mexican official, Alvarez was driven from Guadalajara to the town of Silao and then to Leon, where on April 3 he was put aboard a small airplane and flown to El Paso. Los Angeles-based DEA agents arrested him at the El Paso airport.

Mexican officials have said that U.S. officials told them the arrest was a renegade operation by the Los Angeles DEA office, acting without authority from Washington. They assert that as much as $50,000 each was offered to those who performed the abduction.

“How is it possible that Washington didn’t know?” the Mexican official asked. “What would happen if Coello Trejo launched an operation in the United States without consulting the (Mexican) attorney general?

“This was totally illegal, as if we took $50,000 and went after a person in the United States and kidnaped him,” he said.

The source indicated that his government could force DEA agents registered in Mexico to leave the country. “Either we rectify how they work here, or they go,” he said.

The source, who works closely with Alvarez del Castillo, said the Mexican government will seek to prosecute any U.S. agent involved in Alvarez’s detention on charges of kidnaping, conspiracy and illegal possession of weapons.

“This is an affront to the nation,” he said.

At the meeting in Ixtapa, Mexico’s attorney general asked Thornburgh for the names of those who helped detain Alvarez and what type of plane ferried him to the United States. He asked if any Mexican officials were involved.

Thornburgh responded that he was “sorry” for the incident and offered a response as soon as possible, Arias said.

But Runkel, Thornburgh’s spokesman, said, “To the best of my knowledge he (Thornburgh) didn’t say he was sorry. His view was that he couldn’t say anything until he knows what the facts are.”

Alvarez del Castillo told Thornburgh that if Mexican officials were found to be involved they would be prosecuted.

Ostrow reported from Washington and Miller from Mexico City.