    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
    [March 13, 1997]
    [Pages 306-307]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on House of Representatives Action on Narcotics Certification
    for Mexico
    March 13, 1997

        Today's vote by the House of Representatives on Mexico is the wrong
    way to continue and deepen the unprecedented cooperation we are getting
    from Mexico in the war on drugs and the wrong way to protect the
    interests of the American people.
        We all seek the same goal: to keep drugs out of America's
    neighborhoods and away from our children. Accomplishing that goal
    requires that we work closely with nations that share our objective of
    halting the flow of illegal narcotics, especially with the one country
    in the hemisphere whose 2,000 mile border with the United States makes
    it a ready target of the traffickers seeking to smuggle their contraband
    into the United States.
        I certified Mexico because in the last year, we have achieved an
    unprecedented level of cooperation on counternarcotics, because Mexico
    has taken concrete steps on its own to fight drug trafficking, and
    because certification is the best way to make sure that Mexico's
    cooperation and antidrug efforts grow even stronger.
        Under President Zedillo's leadership, Mexico broke new ground by
    extraditing two of its citizens to the United States and expelling drug
    kingpin Juan Garcia Abrego, who is now behind bars in an American prison
    for life. Our military cooperation has improved dramatically as we have
    expanded antidrug training and assistance on drug interdiction.
        Moreover, Mexico has taken the initiative by itself: Drug seizures,
    arrests, crop eradication, and the destruction of drug labs and runaways
    in Mexico have all increased. New laws to combat organized crime and
    money laundering have been enacted. And the Zedillo administration
    immediately arrested and prosecuted its drug czar when they discovered
    he had been corrupted by a major drug ring.
        President Zedillo recognizes the enormity of the problem Mexico
    faces, and he has been courageous in carrying this battle forward. He
    deserves our support, not a vote of ``no confidence'' that will only
    make it more difficult for him to work with us and defeat the scourge of
    drugs.
        I will continue to work with Congress to ensure that legislation
    that would undermine progress we have made with Mexico does not become
    law.

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