White House Certifies Colombia, Mexico Anti-Drug Efforts

Colombia and Mexico again won President Clinton’s certification Wednesday as fully cooperating partners in the war on drugs, despite government figures showing that the flow of illicit narcotics from the two countries has reached new heights.

The stamp of approval on the nations’ anti-drug efforts came as no surprise. The Clinton administration has long argued that Mexican officials are doing their best to combat powerful traffickers within their borders. U.S. and Colombian authorities have joined forces to battle drug lords in the South American country, and last month the White House sent Congress a proposal to provide Colombia with $1.3 billion in anti-narcotics aid.

Wednesday’s announcements were made against a backdrop of growing discontent with the entire certification process. Mandated by Congress in 1986, certification requires the president to evaluate the level of counter-narcotics cooperation by countries deemed to be major producers or transit points for the lucrative drug trade.

Countries not certified as full partners face a variety of sanctions, including loss of foreign aid and U.S. opposition to loans from international banks. Over the past four years, as law enforcement cooperation has improved markedly in some countries, particularly Mexico, critics inside the administration and out have argued that certification has become an anachronism.

On Wednesday, U.S. anti-drug czar Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey said certification “ill serves the U.S. national purpose,” and he proposed doing away with it. Assistant Secretary of State Rand Beers said of the process, “We can do better.”

McCaffrey acknowledged that Mexico and Colombia face “daunting” problems in beating down an array of powerful criminal organizations that last year shipped more than 400 tons of cocaine to the U.S.

He noted that Colombian cocaine cultivation was up 20% last year and accounted for 70% of the world total. In addition, he said, guerrilla and paramilitary groups financed by the drug trade are gaining strength in Colombia.

In Mexico, where the police chief of the border city of Tijuana was killed over the weekend in a hail of gunfire, the boldness of cartels “is fed by continuing violence and corruption,” McCaffrey said.

Even so, McCaffrey said he is convinced that both countries are doing what they can to combat the drug trade. Last fall, Colombia drafted a wide-ranging anti-narcotics plan with the assistance of U.S. advisors. In Mexico, drug seizures increased last year by almost 50%, while government eradication efforts significantly reduced the opium and marijuana crops.

“If this is a charade, it’s the most expensive charade I’ve ever seen,” McCaffrey said, referring to the $500 million that Mexico has spent on counter-narcotics efforts over the past three years. “I think they are deadly serious about trying to stand up to this.”

Of the 26 nations on this year’s potential certification list, only two, Afghanistan and Myanmar, were not certified. Together, they produce more than 90% of the world’s opium poppies. In Afghanistan, the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime controls 97% of opium-producing areas.

Four other countries--Cambodia, Haiti, Nigeria and Paraguay--did not meet the requirements for full certification. But sanctions against them were waived for reasons of U.S. national security.

Some members of Congress denounced Clinton’s decision to again certify Mexico, but they stopped short of launching a campaign to overturn the decision.

Critics have argued for years that the White House holds back from decertifying Mexico year after year for fear of spoiling relations with its major trading partner.

Under the certification law, Congress has 30 days to reject the ruling. But it has never overturned a presidential certification.

On Friday, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and House International Relations Committee Chairman Benjamin A. Gilman (R-N.Y.) sent a letter to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright recommending decertification of Mexico. They contend that Mexico’s anti-drug efforts have produced scant results.

“It troubles me to think that we have set a standard and Mexico has failed to meet that standard again and again, and yet the administration turns a blind eye to the obvious: There is no satisfactory cooperation with the government of Mexico,” said Rep. John L. Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of a House subcommittee with jurisdiction over drug policy.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) argued that the president should hold Mexico to a stricter standard. She and others want Mexico to make progress in extraditing alleged cartel leaders to the United States.

“To me, cooperation isn’t sitting down and having a meeting,” Feinstein said. “Cooperation is extraditing criminals, holding them accountable to the courts in this country. Cooperation is sharing intelligence with the [Drug Enforcement Administration] so you can fight the battle and make the arrests.”

Mexico, which hires high-powered Washington lobbyists every year to smooth the way for certification, argues that a country that consumes more illicit drugs than any other in the world has no right to judge the narcotics-fighting efforts of its neighbors.

Congressional critics were silent on the decision to certify Colombia, which failed to earn the stamp of approval as recently as 1998. There has been little congressional opposition so far to the administration’s proposal to boost aid to Colombia, although there is disagreement over how the money should be spent.