U.S., Mexico Stress Cooperation at Annual Conference

Mexican officials muzzled their resentment Wednesday over a controversial U.S. money-laundering sting as the cabinets of both nations opened their annual conference and publicly stressed the depth of their cooperation and friendship.

Citing Operation Casablanca--in which U.S. agents operated on Mexican soil and incriminated 26 Mexican bankers--Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said that, in another era, fallout from that sting “might have escalated and impeded progress on many fronts.” Instead, she said, President Clinton and Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo had agreed in a private meeting in New York on Monday to prevent further damage and improve future communication.

“Our presidents reinforced the message that the U.S.-Mexican relationship has matured and grown,” Albright said.

That view drew swift support from Rosario Green, the Mexican foreign secretary seated at Albright’s side in a State Department conference hall. Green abandoned the bitter tones that have marked the rhetoric of most Mexican officials from Zedillo down in the last three weeks as they denounced U.S. operatives for sleuthing on Mexican soil and staging an effort that is regarded as a form of entrapment and thus illegal under Mexican law.

The operation, announced with great fanfare by the U.S. departments of the Treasury and Justice, was regarded by the Mexicans as a gross intrusion against their sovereignty.

In her speech to the cabinets, Green alluded only subtly to the sting and, like Albright, chose to stress future cooperation. But she did not hide the damage.

“In the absence of communication, cooperation, confidence, respect and goodwill,” she said, “our relationship runs the risk of losing its way.

“But we have not lost the way,” she said. “We have a clear mandate from our presidents to fortify our dialogue and cooperation based in confidence, communication and mutual respect for our sovereignty, territorial integrity and, of course, our respective laws and institutions. We are going to advance on this road.”

It was clear from the comments of Albright and Clinton that the presidents had agreed that the time had come for the Mexicans to restrain their impassioned rhetoric. In exchange, the Mexicans apparently won a pledge that the U.S. will respect their sovereignty and consult them extensively.

After meeting Monday, the presidents issued a statement saying the battle against drug trafficking “is best accomplished through improved cooperation and mutual trust, with full respect for the sovereignty of both nations.” They also told Atty. Gen. Janet Reno and Mexican Atty. Gen. Jorge Madrazo Cuellar to improve their collaboration on law enforcement operations and “avoid actions that could have undesirable effects on the bilateral relationship.”

Despite these pledges, Mexican officials did not abandon their threat to indict U.S. agents who operated on Mexican soil. Nor did any U.S. official attempt to assuage Mexican resentment by offering a public apology for the sting.

The makeup of the annual two-day conference offered some evidence of the problem that led the Justice and Treasury departments to stage a secret operation on Mexican soil without worrying about its effect on U.S.-Mexican relations.

There are so many U.S. departments and agencies involved in Mexican affairs that it is difficult for the State Department, despite periodic interagency meetings, to keep track of them. Albright led a delegation that included the secretaries of Agriculture, Energy, Health and Human Services, the Interior, Housing and Urban Development, and Transportation. Also attending were the attorney general, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the federal anti-narcotics czar and the commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.