U.S. OFFICIALS DENOUNCING MEXICO FOR HUGE RISE IN DRUG TRAFFICKING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP98-01394R000200090006-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 25, 2013
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: May 12, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/07/25: CIA-RDP98-01394R000200090006-3
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WASHINGTON, May 11? American ,
officials, normally circumspect about
problems with Mexico, have begun is- '
suing open denunciations of what they
say is a huge increase in drug traffick-
ing and related Government corrup-
tion.
United States figures show that Mex-
ican production of heroin and mari-
juana are rising dramatically, while
Mexican dealers have also become
major traffickers in cocaine, which has
gained them more than $1 billion a
year.
Crop eradication has slowed, mean-
while, and American officials say they
believe that even the governors of some
Mexican states are now taking bribes
from drug dealers.*
Mexico Defends Efforts .
Mexican officials do not dispute the
notion that the drug problem has grown
worse. But in a meeting with, members
of the United States Congress this year, 1
Sergio Garcia Ramirez, the Mexican
Attorney General, said drug traffick-
ing was on the increase' worldwide.
Many other countries are in the same
? position as Mexioo, he said, adding that
? Mexico was fighting the problem as ag-
gressively as it could.
Other Mexican officials reject the..
American assertions outright and in-
sist that their efforts against traffick-
ing are continuing and achieving good
results. .
Just a few years ago.. the United
States so admired the Mexican pro-
grams for eradicating marijuana and
opium poppies that the State Depart-
ment flew officials from as far away as ?
Burma to Mexico to show them how an
effective program was run. Its drug en-
forcement program was considered a
model.
Weak Economy Is Cited
Now American officials say all that
has changed, although none say,w1
any certainty why the problem
? worsened so rapidly and dramaticallii?,t
The most common explanation is that,
' Mexico's deteriorating economy has
drawn poor peasants into the narcotict
trade as legitimate sources of income
have vanished. In addition, Mexico
I-1 scholars say Government corruption
traditionally increases in the last two
years of a President's term, and Presi-
dent Miguel de la Madrid leaves office
in 1988.
"The drug situation is a horror story,
increasing logarithmically, and Mex-
ico is doing nothing about it," William
von Raab, the Customs Commissioner;
said in an interview.
He said Mexican Government offi
;
Ah
dais were "inept and corrupt, an
U.S. Officials Denouncing Mexico
For Huge Rise in Drug Trafficking
jtC.
Continued From Page Al
the entire executive branch of Govern-
ment."
John C. Lawn, head of the Drug En-
forcement Administration, said, 'Pro-
duction is increasing, quantities are in-
creasing, purities are increasing."
He added that when American of
have told their Mexican counter-
parts of some specific drug trafficking
problems they have discovered, the
Mexicans "did nothing about it."
Blunt Language Used
added, "The concern is now shared by
Continued on Page A4, Column 3
A recent State Department report,
whose authors acknowledged that it
was written in unusually blunt terms,
called Mexico's record of prosecuting
drug traffickers "a dismal picture.' It
said Mexico's claim that it had eradi-
cated thousands of acres of marijuana
and opium poppies last year was heav-
ily exaggerated and "incorrect." And
it concluded that Mexico had become I
this country's most serious problem in
international narcotics control.
A senior State Department official
said the drug trafficking problem had
grown so rapidly in the last 18 months ,
that it had "popped off the charts" that
rank foreign policy issues with Mexico.
And Jon R. Thomas, who was assist-
ant secretary of state for international
narcotics matters until last month,
said, "It's pretty hard to say we're
being successful in narcotics programs
anywhere in the world when we're not
being successful in Mexico."
The American concerns have be-
come so pronounced and the criticisms
so visceral Rartly because "there's an
irony here, said David L. Westrate,
chief of the Drug Enforcement Admin-
istration's operations division. "Not
long ago Mexico's program was the
model for the world,' he said.
'Enormous Success' In Put
In the late 1970's and early 11180's,
marijuana and heroin trafficking from
Mexico were "basically a nonprob-
lem," Mr. Lawn said. A report issued
by the House Select Committee on Nar-
cotics Abuse and Control just two years
ago called Mexican drug, enforcement
"an enormous success" and the best
program in the world.
A new House narcotics committee re-
port, issued last month, said drug
smuggling from Mexico had grown "to-
tally out of control," adding that Mexi-
can drugs are now "threatening the en-
tire country." Mr. von Raab recently
said Mexican drug smuggling had
turned the southern border into "a
crisis zone."
Atter an United States Drug Enforce-
ment Administration officer, Enrigue
Camarena Salazar, was slain by Mexi-
can drug traffickers last year, the re-
suiting Mexican investigation exposed
widespread drug-related Government
corruption, and Mr. de la lvfacfri'd
vowed to control both the corruption
and the drug trafficking.
American officials say Mexico has
taken some steps to tight the problem,
including letting the United States help
conduct the first full survey of Mexi-
co's marijuana and opium-poppy
crops, now under way. But, as one sen-
ior American official said, "the trouble
is, even though they are doing more,
the problem is growing at an even more
rapid rate."
Arrests of Officers Reported
The Mexican Government has made
public a list of dozens of reputed drug
traffickers it had arrested in recent
months. But Mr. von Raab was dispar-
aging. "They trot out these poor, mis-
erable characters and arrest them," he
said. "They are still harboring major
drug kingpins."
But Leonardo, Ffrench Iduarte, a
a
By JOEL BRINKLEY
S'Oectel to The New York Times
minister in the Mexican Embassy
here, said Mexico "has arrested and
fired several Government officers and
law enforcement agents associated
with drug traffickers."
"In this matter, our two countries
share identical goals," he said.
Still, United States Government fig-
ures show that in the last year Mexico
has replaced Colombia as the largest
source of marijuana sold in the United
States. The State Department's narcot-
ics office says substantial quantities of
marijuana now grow "in almost all
areas of the country," while marijuana
eradication in 1985 was "greatly re-
duced from previous years' totals."
The State Department estimates that
Mexico produced at least 6.6 million
pounds of marijuana in 1985. American
officials say they believe that the pho-
tographic survey now under way will
show that the marijuana crop is actu-
ally far larger.
In recent months Mexico has sur-
passed the "Golden Crescent" coun-
tries of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran
as the largest single source of heroin
sold here, and "there's no question"
that heroin production is continuing to
Increase, Mr. Westrate said. Mexico is
the sole source of an especially potent
and dangerous new form of heroin
called black tar that is blamed for
causing the first general increase in
heroin use in this country in the last
five years.
Most Cocaine From Colombia
Mexican traffickers are also the
largest suppliers of illegally made am-
phetamine pills, the State Department
says. And although most of the world's
cocaine is still produced in Colombia,
in the last 18 months Mexican dealers
have become significant "wholesale
brokers," Mr. Lawn said, smuggling
from Colombia at least one-third of the
roughly 242,000 pounds of cocaine be-
lieved consumed in the United States
last year.
Illustrating that, the American au-
thorities seized more than 10,700
pounds of cocaine as it was being smug-
gled across the Mexico-California bor-
der between Oct. 1, 1985, and March 30,
1988, the Customs Service reported.
That is three times more than was
seized along the entire Mexican border
during the previous five years.
Mr. Lawn's agency says it has also
iindentified 70 "Class 1" drug traffick-
ers in Mexico, a significant increase
and probably a larger number than in
any other country, officials say. A
"Class 1" trafficker is one who runs a
drug trafficking network capable of
regularly acquiring and distributing in
this country quantities of many pounds
of cocaine or heroin or many tons of
marijuana.
While production and trafficking
have worsened, American officials say
enforcement has slowed and in some
cases stopped.
Crop Eradication Sought
The centerpiece of Mexican drug en-
forcement had been the crop eradica-
tion program. Using 60 helicopters and
more than a dozen additional aircraft
bought by the United States, Mexicans
sprayed herbicides on marijuana and
opium poppy fields nationwide.
That program had been judged ex-
traordinarily effective until recently.
In the last year, American officials
have received reports that "the air
fleet is not flying in the areas where
cultivation is occurring," Mr. Lawn
said. "They say they are spraying
when they are not, or they are spraying
water instead of herbicides."
A senior American official involved
in Mexican affairs said, "In some
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? 4
cases they have been spraying fertil-
izer instead of herbicides, or they are
spraying the herbicide on some poor
? farmer's corn."
To discuss these and related prob-
lems, Mr. Garcia Ramirez and other
' Mexican officials meet regularly with
Attorney General Edwin Meese 3d and
other American officials, The fourth of
these meetings was held in Cancun,
Mexico, last month, and at those ses-
sions "we express our real concerns
about what we think is not happening,"
Mr. Lawn said.
Greater U.S. Role Set
I At the Cancun meeting, American of-
ficials said afterward, the two sides
agreed to more American participation
In efforts to verify that crop eradica-
tion was taking place, king pla, and Mr. Wes-
trate said, i "Verification of eradication
Is strengthening."
The Mexicans also reportedly agreed
to a more systematic and structured
sharing of intelligence information on
trafficking. And American officials
said cooperation between top-level
Government officers had improved in
?. recent weeks, causing some optimism.
, But a senior American official also
said, "Still, if you go down just two
layers from the top, you are in trou-
ble."
Mexican officials usually bristle
when they believe they are being lec-
tured by the United States. Two years
ago, Mr. von Raab said, he "addressed
the growing problem" of drug traffick-
ing with Bernado Sepdiveda Amor, the
.Mexican Foreign Minister, "and he
couldn't have been less interested; he
lectured me on Mexican sovereignty."
But now, Mr. Lawn said, "they don't
take that attitude" in the private meet-
ings.
A senior American official involved
with the meetings said, "They have
. swallowed a lot of pride and their sense
of sovereignty on this." One reason, he
added, is that "the strength of the Mex-
ican political system is at stake, and
they knovv it."
Now that trafficking is flourishing,
the mammoth profits have emboldened
the dealers; Mr. Lawn said, allowing
? them to bribe more people, expand the
drug trade and weaken the central
Government's authority in some areas.
? Policemen Are Tortured
Last Nov. 1 drug traffickers near
Vera Cruz tortured and killed 17 Mexi-
can police officers, including five fed-
eral judicial policemen. They cut off
the officers' tongues and gouged out
their eyes, witnesses reported.
"That's a new phenomonen," Mr.
Lawn said, adding that it showed "a
new confidence' among drug traffick-
ers that they can remain above the law
, no matter what they do.
One reason, Mr. Lawn said, is that
his agency gets many reports indicat-
ing direct police involvement. "The
traffickers now move around the coun-
try with entourages, including people
In federal police uniforms carrying au-
tomatic weapons," he said.
In addition, "the governors of some
states are responding not just to re-
quests from the P.R.I.," the ruling In-
stitutional Revolutionary Party, "but
to requests from the narco-traffickers
too, said a senior American official
who reviews intelligence reports from
Mexico. "There are several governors
we think are on the take."
Mr. Ffrench of the Mexican Em-
bassy said: "We don't have specific in-
formation on that, but if information
? exists, convey it to Mexican authorities
and they will act immediately."
Expensive Suits and Jewelry
Mr. Westrate said he often met with
Mexican officials who are dressed in
unusually expensive sults and wear
gold ? jewelry that "hangs all over
them," indicating a level of wealth be-
yond what would be expected on their
salaries.
,,Mr. von Raab said "it would take a
lot to col:Mote me" that some of the
Mexican officials he meets "are not in-
volved" in the drug trade.
? The new cocaine trafficking, espe-
cially, has enriched and emboldened
the traffickers, Mr. Lawn said, ena-
bling them to bribe more Government
officials. Using the American estimate
that one-third of the cocaine sold In the
United States is smuggled here through
Mexico, the Mexican traffickers in 1985
could have crossed an additional $1:25
billion, Federal figures show.
That sum is derived by calculating
the profit from buying 72,600 pounds of
cocaine at the known wholesale price in
Colombia, about $2,140 a pound, then
reselling it at the average United
States wholesale price of about $19,000
a pound.
It is this tremendousinflux of cash,
Mr. Westrate said, that has given the
traffickers "the additional strength to
do what they want to do."
Mexico Rejects
U.S. Charges
By WILLIAM STOCICTON
Special to The New York Times
MEXICO CITY, May 10 ?
Mexican officials have rejected
assertions by United States of-
ficials that Mexico is doing
nothing to combat drug traffic
across the border and that
Mexico is not cooperating with
American efforts to combat the
drug flow.
Francisco Fonseca Notario,
spokesman for the Mexican At-
torney General, said Wednes-
day, "Mexico has a permanent
campaign against narcotics
traffickers, and that campaign
Is going very well." The Attor-
ney General's office conducts
the campaign.
Mr. Fonseca added: "For ex-
ample, in 1985 we seized 2.5
metric tons of cocaine in Mex-
ico from narcotics traffickers,
and in the first three months of
1986 we have seized almost two
metric tons. These seizures are
the result of our hard work
fighting the narcotics traffick-
ers."
United States officials here
who monitor the drug problem
and work with the Mexicans
confirmed the Mexican cocaine
figures.
Mexican officials also ex-
pressed puzzlement at what
they consider the harsh tone of
remarks by United States offi-
cials in Washington since a
meeting between law enforce-
ment officials of both countries
in Canctin last month.
Attorney General Sergio
Garcia Ramirez and the United
States Attorney General,
Edwin Meese 34, led the two
days of talks on a wide range of
law enforcement issues, with
drug trafficking topping the
list.
"What they are saying in
Washington is very surprising
coming after the meeting in
C,anctin," Mr. Fonseca said.
"From the point of view of the
Attorney General, the meeting
in Cancun was a really positive
meeting. Both countries are
working together on many
fronts in a very positive way."
Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/07/25: CIA-RDP98-01394R000200090006-3