[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 21 (Tuesday, February 25, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S1512]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      DENY CERTIFICATION TO MEXICO

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise to read into the Record a 
letter that I have just sent to the President of the United States, 
urging decertification of Mexico:

       Dear Mr. President: I am writing to urge you to deny 
     certification that Mexico has taken sufficient actions to 
     combat international narcotics trafficking when you report to 
     Congress on the anti-narcotics efforts of major drug 
     producing and drug-transit countries. I believe a reasonable 
     examination of the facts leads to no other decision.
       Last year at this time, Senator D'Amato and I compiled a 
     list of actions we considered it necessary for the Mexican 
     government to take to beef up their anti-narcotics efforts. 
     This list is attached. Regrettably, I have concluded that 
     there has been insufficient progress, or no progress, on 
     nearly all of the items on this list. Some of these failures 
     are due to inability; others are due to a lack of political 
     will. But all have set back the urgent effort to end the 
     plague of drugs on our streets.
       I want to bring to your attention a number of the most 
     significant examples of Mexico's inability and unwillingness 
     to deal with the drug trafficking problem effectively:
       Cartels: There has been little or no effective action taken 
     against the major drug cartels. The two most powerful--the 
     Juarez Cartel run by Amado Carillo Fuentes, and the Tijuana 
     Cartel, run by the Arellano Felix brothers--have hardly been 
     touched by Mexican law enforcement. Those who have been 
     arrested, such as Hector Palma, are given light sentences and 
     allowed to continue to conduct business from jail. As DEA 
     Administrator Constantine says, ``The Mexicans are now the 
     single most powerful trafficking groups''--worse than the 
     Colombian cartels.
       Money Laundering: Last year, the Mexican parliament passed 
     criminal money laundering laws for the first time, but the 
     new laws are incomplete and have not yet been properly 
     implemented. These laws do not require banks to report large 
     and suspicious currency transactions, or threaten the 
     banks with sanctions if they fail to comply. Promises to 
     enact such regulations--which prosecutors need to identify 
     money-launderers--have so far gone unfulfilled. Mexican 
     officials said that such regulations would be developed by 
     January, but they were not produced. To my knowledge, not 
     a single Mexican bank or exchange house has been forced to 
     change its operations.
       Law Enforcement: While there have been increases in the 
     amounts of heroin and marijuana seized by Mexican 
     authorities, cocaine seizures remain low. Although slightly 
     higher than last year's figures, the 23.6 metric tons seized 
     in 1996 is barely half of what was seized in 1993. A modest 
     increase in drug-related arrests brought the total to 11,245 
     in 1996--less than half of the 1992 figure.
       Cooperation with U.S. Law Enforcement: Our own drug 
     enforcement agents report that the situation on the border 
     has never been worse. Last month, the Mexican government 
     forbade U.S. agents to carry weapons on the Mexican side of 
     the border, putting their lives in grave danger. Recent news 
     reports indicate that death threats against U.S. narcotics 
     agents on the border have quadrupled in the past three 
     months. Some U.S. agents believe that all their cooperative 
     efforts are undone almost instantly by the corrupt Mexican 
     agents with whom they work.
       Extraditions: Despite the fact that the United States has 
     52 outstanding extradition request on drug-related charges, 
     not a single Mexican national has ever been extradited to the 
     United States on such charges.
       Corruption: Mexico's counternarcotics effort is plagued by 
     corruption in the government and the national police. Among 
     the evidence are the eight Mexican prosecutors and law 
     enforcement officials who have been murdered in Tijuana in 
     recent months. There has been considerable hope that the 
     Mexican armed forces would be able to take a more active role 
     in the counternarcotics effort without the taint of 
     corruption. But the revelation that Gen. Jesus Gutierrez 
     Rebollo, Mexico's top counternarcotics official and a 42-year 
     veteran of the armed forces, had accepted bribes from the 
     Carillo Fuentes cartel, casts grave doubts upon that hope.
       Recent news reports indicate that U.S. law enforcement 
     officials suspect judges, prosecutors, Transportation 
     Ministry officials, and Naval officers of corruption, and 
     there is persuasive evidence that two Mexican Governors--
     Manlio Fabio Beltrones Rivera of Sonora and Jorge Carillo 
     Olea--are actively facilitating the work of drug traffickers 
     in their respective states. The National Autonomous 
     University of Mexico estimates that the drug lords spend 
     $500 million each year to bribe Mexican officials at all 
     levels, and many consider that figure to be a gross under-
     estimation.
       Mr. President, I believe the evidence is overwhelming and 
     can lead to no decision other than the decertification of 
     Mexico. It would send a strong signal to Mexico and the world 
     that the United States will not tolerate lack of cooperation 
     in the fight against narcotics, even from our close friends 
     and allies. Accordingly, I urge you to establish a clear set 
     of benchmarks by which you will judge if and when to 
     recertify Mexico for counternarcotics cooperation. These 
     benchmarks must include, but not be limited to: effective 
     action to dismantle the major drug cartels and arrest their 
     leaders; full and ongoing implementation of effective money-
     laundering legislation; compliance with all outstanding 
     extradition requests by the United States; increased 
     interdiction of narcotics and other controlled substances 
     flowing across the border by land and sea routes; improved 
     cooperation with U.S. law enforcement officials, including 
     allowing U.S. agents to resume carrying weapons on the 
     Mexican side of the border; and a comprehensive program to 
     identify, weed out, and prosecute corrupt officials at all 
     levels of the Mexican government, police, and military.
       You may feel that U.S. interests in Mexico, economic and 
     otherwise, are too extensive to risk the fall-out that would 
     result from decertification. That is why Congress included a 
     vital national interest waiver provision in Section 490 of 
     the Foreign Assistance Act. But other vital interests are not 
     a valid reason to certify when certification has not been 
     earned. If you feel that our interests warrant it, I urge you 
     to use this waiver. But an honest assessment of Mexico's 
     cooperation on counternarcotics must fall on the side of 
     decertification.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The time of the Senator from California has 
expired.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. If I might be allowed 30 seconds to conclude?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection? Without objection, it is 
so ordered.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I can only say I believe a strong case 
can be made to the President to decertify Mexico, to provide a list of 
specific accomplishments that country should meet to waive 
decertification, and at any time during this next year that they meet 
that list of requirements, the President has the ability to certify 
them. I thank the President. I yield the floor.
  Mr. ABRAHAM addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.

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