[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 158 (Thursday, October 12, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15130-S15131]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 30--RELATIVE TO MEXICO

  Mr. HELMS (for himself, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Grassley, and Ms. Snowe) 
submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to 
the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                            S. Con. Res. 30

       Whereas the United States and Mexico share a 2,000-mile 
     border and economic relations between the two nations are 
     increasing;
       Whereas Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo has stated his 
     commitment to ``create a nation of law,'' combat drug 
     trafficking, investigate political assassinations, and punish 
     official malfeasance;
       Whereas President Zedillo's appointed an opposition party 
     member, Antonio Lozano, as Attorney General, the first 
     opposition member in the Cabinet;
       Whereas the Government of Mexico has taken steps to end 
     impunity by arresting Raul Salinas, the brother of former 
     President Carlos Salinas, for his involvement in the murder 
     of Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu, and by requesting the 
     extradition of Mario Ruiz Massieu, former Deputy Attorney 
     General, for his alleged tampering with evidence in the 
     investigation into the murder of his brother and for 
     accepting money from drug traffickers;
       Whereas the investigations of the assassinations of the 
     Cardinal Posadas, PRI presidential candidate Luis Donaldo 
     Colosio, and PRI General Secretary Jose Francisco Ruiz 
     Massieu remain unresolved;
       Whereas elements of Mexico's bureaucracy are engaged in 
     drug-related and other corruption, including collaborating 
     with drug traffickers who pay for protection, allowing the 
     drug trade to proliferate and threatening United States and 
     Mexican security;
       Whereas Mexico is both a major transit point for drugs 
     produced in South America and elsewhere, and a production 
     source of much of the marijuana and heroin shipped into the 
     United States;
       Whereas increased drug enforcement efforts in the 
     southeastern United States have achieved some positive 
     results;
       Whereas drug smuggling activity has increased along the 
     U.S.-Mexican border;
       Whereas, despite President Zedillo's initial efforts, 
     actions by the Government of Mexico have not pursued 
     aggressively President Zedillo's public commitments to 
     eliminate impunity for former and current government 
     officials: Now, therefore be it Resolved by the Senate (the 
     House of Representatives concurring), That
       (a) the Congress recognizes the initial steps taken by the 
     Mexican Government of President Ernesto Zedillo to 
     investigate drug-related and other corruption in Mexico.
       (b) It is the sense of the Congress that--
       (1) the President of the United States should encourage and 
     support President Zedillo's efforts to create an independent 
     Mexican judicial body to evaluate the financial holdings of 
     former and present Mexican officials;
       (2) the President of the United States should encourage and 
     support President Zedillo's efforts to investigate to the 
     fullest extent possible corruption and economic malfeasance 
     in an effort to bring about a true democracy in Mexico;
       (3) the United States Congress should pursue efforts to 
     strengthen relations with the Mexican Congress;
       (4) the Attorney General of the United States should pursue 
     greater cooperation with the Mexican Government to 
     investigate cross-border corruption and to provide protection 
     for those willing to come forward publicly;
       (5) the President of the United States and senior United 
     States officials should encourage and support efforts by 
     President Zedillo to investigate vigorously the killings of 
     Cardinal Juan Posadas in May 1993, PRI presidential candidate 
     Luis Donaldo Colosio in March 1994, and PRI Secretary General 
     Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu in September 1994;
       (6) the Government of Mexico should replace and prosecute 
     corrupt regional police commanders;
       (7) the Mexican people have the support of the United 
     States in efforts to eliminate illegal drug trafficking on 
     both sides of the United States-Mexico border; and
       (8) the interdiction of illegal narcotics should be a top 
     priority for the United States in its management of the U.S.-
     Mexican border.
       Sec. 2. The Secretary of the Senate shall transmit a copy 
     of this concurrent resolution to the President.

  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, the American people have an enormous stake 
in Mexico--a neighboring country with which the United States shares a 
2000-mile border and which is a significant trading partner. Many of 
Mexico's problems have become our problems, especially drug trafficking 
fueled by incredible corruption which touches every community in 
America.
  On August 8, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee conducted a 
hearing on the magnitude of the illegal Mexican drug trade and its 
affect on United States-Mexican relations. It was startling to hear 
both United States officials and Mexican experts describe the spreading 
tentacles of drug trafficking and drug-related corruption threatening 
to engulf the 10-month presidency of Ernesto Zedillo. The hearing, 
however, was not limited to the bad news; the witnesses offered several 
initiatives that could be helpful to President Zedillo and the Mexican 
people in confronting the drug lords.
  This hearing prompted Senator Feinstein and me, working with Senator 
Grassley as chairman of the Senate Drug Enforcement Caucus, to prepare 
a resolution I now send to the desk for first reading and appropriate 
referral.
  The enormity of the problem confronting Mexico is such that the 
Mexican Government's own National Institute for Combating Drugs 
concluded recently that the increasing power of the drug kingpins could 
ultimately make Mexico ``ungovernable.''
  All too often, Mr. President, these evil traffickers are aided and 
abetted by unscrupulous Mexican Government and law enforcement 
officials. For example, it has been reported that the leader of the so-
called gulf cartel, Juan Garcia Abrego--who also has become a fixture 
on the FBI's most wanted list--bribes senior Mexican Government 
officials to the tune of $50 million a month in running his operations.
  While United States officials were heaping praise upon former Mexican 
president Salinas' commitment to fighting drugs, Mr. Salinas' senior 
drug enforcement officials were on the traffickers' payroll. Two of his 
three drug enforcement directors have been charged with accepting 
bribes from drug traffickers. Salinas' Deputy Attorney General, Mario 
Ruiz Massieu, kept millions of dollars in U.S. bank accounts which the 
U.S. district attorney for southern Texas alleges are payoffs from drug 
traffickers.
  And in another disturbing revelation, in May, Mexican newspapers 
published transcripts of phone conversations involving Marcella 
Bodenstadt, identified as a Garcia Abrego associate and the wife of a 
cartel money-launderer, and Salinas' Minister of the Presidency, with 
whom she was having an affair. The Minister of the Presidency, who 
managed the national security and intelligence apparatus for the 
Salinas government, claims he knew nothing about Ms. Bodenstadt's drug 
connections.
  This concurrent resolution recognizes that President Zedillo 
inherited the governmental structure influenced 

[[Page S 15131]]
by the drug lords. It acknowledges his initial efforts at reform. And 
it urges President Clinton to encourage and support President Zedillo's 
initiatives to create a nation of law, combat drug trafficking, 
investigate political killings--many of which also are related to the 
drug trade--and to punish official malfeasance.
  It is in Mexico's interest to pursue vigorously the investigations of 
three high-profile murders linked to drug trafficking. The May 1993 
murder of Cardinal Juan Posadas, allegedly by drug traffickers led by 
the kingpins of the so-called Tijuana cartel, Benjamin and Ramon 
Arellano Felix, shocked the world. However, 2\1/2\ years later, the 
Arellano Felix brothers are still free, even though they reportedly are 
seen around town.
  Then there was the killing of PRI Presidential candidate Luis 
Donaldo Colosio in Tijuana in March 1994. Drug traffickers and corrupt 
police officials have been implicated in the killing and in subsequent 
efforts to obstruct investigations. Two weeks after Colosio's murder, 
the local police chief was gunned-down while conducting his own 
investigation into the assassination. In May 1995, the Governor of Baja 
California confirmed that the Tijuana police chief had been murdered by 
a Federal Judicial Police officer.

  Mr. President, corruption within the police remains a serious 
problem. In March 1995, 14 officers of the same Federal Judicial 
Police--a group known for torture, rape, and drug corruption--were 
accused of stealing and selling cocaine base. Earlier this year, NBC 
Nightly News aired film footage of Mexican police helping traffickers 
unload cocaine. And when President Zedillo's appointed chief of police, 
Juan Pablo de Tavira, decided to purge the force of corrupt officers, 
he was mysteriously poisoned hours before a meeting with the Attorney 
General to implement the cleansing of the police force.
  In the case of Mexico, President Zedillo must guarantee that his 
nation will be governed by law--which has not been the case during the 
PRI's 66-year one-party rule of Mexico. It is not sufficient to arrest 
an occasional drug lord who has not paid for protection. A consistently 
applied standard of punishment against all drug traffickers and corrupt 
government and law enforcement officials, regardless of position or 
wealth, is crucial.
  U.S. programs to combat drug trafficking are a waste if senior 
foreign government officials assist drug gangs and policemen are in 
cahoots with traffickers. The U.S. Government must send the message 
that we support tough antidrug and anticorruption initiatives. While a 
few dedicated United States officials daily combat drug trafficking, in 
diplomatic exchanges with Mexico, drug trafficking and corruption are 
rarely ever mentioned. It seems that U.S. officials fear that the mere 
mention of drugs will offend their counterparts and perhaps ruffle cozy 
diplomatic relationships. This is absurd.
  The insidious influence of drug trafficking and political corruption 
are the greatest threat to both nations' national security. All of us 
are affected by drugs and crime--much of which is committed by persons 
under the influence of drugs. We have a responsibility to fight drugs 
crossing our borders. The lives and well-being of our families, 
children, and grandchildren are at stake. It is the intent of this 
resolution to signal our resolve in fighting the scourge of illegal 
drugs.

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