Mexico Wins Certification for Efforts to Halt Drugs

President Clinton ruled Friday that Mexico is cooperating fully with U.S. counter-narcotics efforts, despite a State Department report that called Mexico the most “immediate narcotics threat to the United States” and cited widespread police and judicial corruption.

At the same time, Clinton determined that Colombia’s government and congress are so riddled with graft that the country falls short of global antidrug standards, a finding that bars U.S. assistance to Bogota and requires Washington to vote against loans to Colombia by the World Bank and other international institutions.

The finding on Mexico, which drew heavy criticism on Capitol Hill, averted what would have been a major confrontation with that nation’s government and preserved Mexico’s right to qualify for aid from the United States.

Mexico objects to the entire process as an arrogant violation of its sovereignty.

Although the State Department praised Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo for high-profile antinarcotics efforts, the report still complained that Mexico has become one of the most important money-laundering centers in the Western Hemisphere.

The certification process, which has become a major irritant in U.S. ties with Mexico and dozens of other countries, is required by a 10-year-old law that grew out of long-standing congressional complaints that the executive branch was never tough enough on countries implicated in the narcotics trade.

After a protracted debate within the administration, Clinton graded the counter-narcotics efforts of the 31 countries that are considered major producers or distributors of illegal drugs, certifying that 22 of them, including Mexico, are making an adequate effort.

The president said that the programs in six countries, including Colombia, are so bad that the nations no longer qualify for U.S. assistance.

Colombia previously had escaped outright decertification, despite its position as the world’s biggest producer of cocaine.

Three other countries were found to fall short of the mark, but Clinton gave them a special waiver to permit foreign aid programs to continue.

The mandatory penalty in the law--a ban on foreign aid except for counter-narcotics programs--has little practical effect. Colombia receives no bilateral aid apart from assistance for its antidrug efforts. And the other five countries that were decertified--Afghanistan, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Iran, Nigeria and Syria--receive no assistance of any kind.

But the psychological impact on Colombia was substantial. Last year, Clinton determined that Colombia’s effort was not good enough for full certification, but he gave Bogota a waiver.

This year, Clinton gave waivers to Lebanon, Paraguay and Pakistan. Bolivia and Peru received full certification after getting waivers a year ago.

Robert Gelbard, the State Department’s antinarcotics expert, praised the Colombian prosecutor general and the national police for bravely attacking drug barons. But he said their efforts were undermined by a pervasive corruption that has compromised the government from President Ernesto Samper on down.

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On Capitol Hill, Clinton won high marks for decertifying Colombia but was roundly criticized for approving the Mexican programs. For instance, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said Mexico deserved nothing more than a waiver. She said that the country “must understand the seriousness with which we view this problem and how strongly we believe that Mexico can and must do more to stop the drugs coming across our border.”

Sen. Alfonse M. D’Amato (R-N.Y.) accused Clinton of “bending over backward to excuse Mexico’s bad behavior.” Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) also said Mexico should have been denied full certification.

A senior White House official said some of Clinton’s advisors argued that the administration should deny Mexico full certification because of domestic political considerations.

“The California senators and all the Republican presidential candidates were beating the hell out of us on the Mexican issue,” the official said. “Political types said we had to look tough by decertifying them.”

But the official said Secretary of State Warren Christopher argued that Zedillo’s government had done more in 1995 to curb drug traffic than the previous government had done in 1994 and “that there was no way we could decertify Mexico.”

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In Mexico City, Zedillo’s government said the administration’s decision will have no impact on Mexican counter-narcotics programs.

“The decision made by the United States government neither alters nor modifies programs or priorities of the antinarcotics policy of the government of Mexico,” a government statement said.

In Bogota, the Colombian president called his country’s decertification “deplorable” and hinted he might halt joint drug-fighting operations.

“My government will reevaluate the terms of bilateral cooperation by which joint antinarcotics programs have been developing,” Samper said in a speech carried live on national television.

In addition to Mexico, Clinton gave full certification to the Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, China, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica, Laos, Malaysia, Panama, Peru, Taiwan, Thailand, Venezuela and Vietnam.

Times staff writers Jack Nelson and Ronald L. Ostrow in Washington, Mark Fineman in Mexico City and special correspondent Steven Ambrus in Bogota contributed to this report.

* TIJUANA RAIDS

Mexican troops hunt three suspected drug kingpins. A6

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