Anti-Drug Effort Called Paralyzed

Much of Mexico’s anti-drug strategy--from informants’ names to intelligence methods developed over the years--has now passed into the hands of criminals as a result of the alleged corruption of this nation’s top anti-narcotics cop, a former senior official declared Wednesday.

The comments by Francisco Molina Ruiz, who was this country’s drug czar until December, were the strongest public indication yet that Mexico’s anti-narcotics fight is in shambles and could take years to rebuild.

U.S. officials have until now asserted that they did not pass on sensitive information to Gen. Jose de Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, who was arrested last week and accused of working for the nation’s leading drug cartel even as the general headed Mexico’s version of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

But Molina Ruiz’s comments were backed up by DEA chief Thomas Constantine. He said the damage from the Mexican scandal appears to be worse than that done by the U.S. spy Aldrich Ames.

U.S. officials, he added, are trying desperately to assess “who we can trust” to try to rebuild a critical anti-drug effort.

“My sense is he [Gutierrez] knew everything that was going on, and he used everything he knew,” Constantine told The Times.

The officials’ comments came amid what may be Mexico’s worst drug scandal. Just weeks after U.S. officials expressed optimism that they would soon capture leading Mexican traffickers, the anti-drug effort is now paralyzed, authorities say.

The attorney general’s office in Mexico has admitted that this nation’s justice system has all but collapsed.

Meanwhile, the country is awash in reports of drug corruption involving current and former government officials.

As a result, Washington for the first time is considering denying Mexico its customary full “certification” as a partner in fighting drugs.

Mexican officials have warned that such a decision could sorely strain relations.

Mexican drug lords, U.S. officials say, transport 75% of the cocaine entering the United States--in addition to marijuana and heroin--and they are believed to be growing stronger.

Molina Ruiz said in an interview that years of painstaking efforts to develop a counter-narcotics program appear to have been destroyed by Gutierrez’s alleged corruption.

He said he gave the general a trove of sensitive information before he left the post in December--information that he believes was passed on to drug lords.

“The most difficult thing is, they [drug traffickers] now know the strengths and the mechanics of the government operations--how the government gets intelligence, how it follows certain people, how it does investigations. We have to change these work methods,” he said.

Molina Ruiz said that, up until December, authorities had completed three steps of a 10-point strategy aimed at capturing leading drug traffickers.

“The work that we were doing, and was progressing, has now been revealed,” he said.

He declined to provide details about the intelligence that could have been passed on to the drug cartels. But in a separate interview with the Mexico City daily El Universal, he said he believed that the information included the names of drug traffickers who were about to be captured, narcotics routes that were being investigated and airplanes that were being watched.

U.S. officials had expressed high regard for Molina Ruiz, even though he was removed after eight months as head of the National Institute to Combat Drugs. He left as part of a shake-up carried out because of what senior Mexican officials called incompetence by Atty. Gen. Antonio Lozano Gracia, who oversaw the drug office.

Molina Ruiz, who is planning to seek a Senate seat for the opposition National Action Party in July elections, also lashed out at what he called disinterest among many Mexican government officials in attacking drugs.

In an unusual public criticism, he said curbing trafficking was “priority No. 15 or 20” for officials who oversee such areas as agriculture or airports.

“Who has done something about the airports where hangars are used to keep drugs? Who has done something about the rural areas where drugs are grown. Do they check on what kind of agriculture is going on? Where are these efforts?” he asked.

He added, however, that he was not criticizing President Ernesto Zedillo, who he said is making a sincere effort to combat traffickers.

So far, Mexican officials have fired 36 of Gutierrez’s former employees or colleagues but have declined to identify them by name or position. They say their investigation is continuing.

Meanwhile, all U.S.-Mexico counter-narcotics efforts are on hold while American agents scramble to try to understand just how much of their work may have been compromised.

“Everything is absolutely frozen right now,” Constantine said, comparing the damage to what would have resulted if 36 colleagues had been arrested along with Ames, the American charged with spying for the Soviet Union and Russia.

Sheridan reported from Mexico City and Shogren from Washington.