[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 19 (Monday, May 12, 1997)]
[Pages 663-665]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Declaration of Mexican and United States Alliance Against Drugs

May 6, 1997

    Drug abuse and drug trafficking are a danger to our societies, an 
affront to our sovereignty and a threat to our national security. We 
declare our nations united in an alliance to combat this menace.
    With trust in one another and in our commitment as Chiefs of State, 
our collaboration will go forward based on the following fundamental 
principles: a) absolute respect for the sovereignty and territorial 
jurisdiction of Mexico and the United States; b) shared responsibility 
for confronting the problem of illegal drugs and related crimes, such as 
ille

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gal arms trafficking and money laundering; c) adoption of an integrated 
approach against illegal drugs, which will confront the problem from the 
demand and supply side simultaneously; d) balance and reciprocity in the 
actions, programs and rules developed to confront the drug threat in 
both countries; and e) effective application of the laws in both 
countries.
    Our governments have issued a joint threat assessment detailing the 
nature of illegal drug use in both our societies, and the extent of drug 
trafficking and related crimes as they threaten both our peoples. Mexico 
and the United States are fully agreed on the magnitude of the problem 
in both countries, and are determined to combat it with all resources at 
our disposal.
    Accordingly, we have instructed our responsible Cabinet Officers, 
acting through the U.S./Mexico High Level Contact Group for Drug 
Control, to work out a common counterdrug strategy, and to develop 
mutually reinforcing implementation plans for this common strategy, 
consistent with each other's National Drug Control Programs.
    Acting together in accordance with this political commitment, and 
working to enhance trust, mutual support and confidence, Mexico and the 
United States will:
<bullet>    Reduce the demand for illicit drugs through the 
            intensification of anti-drug information and educational 
            efforts, particularly those directed at young people, and 
            through rehabilitative programs.
<bullet>    Reduce the production and distribution of illegal drugs in 
            both countries, particularly marijuana, methanphetamine, 
            cocaine and heroin.
<bullet>    Focus law enforcement efforts against criminal organizations 
            and those who facilitate their operations in both countries.
<bullet>    Strengthen U.S./Mexican law enforcement cooperation and 
            policy coordination, and assure the safety of law 
            enforcement officers.
<bullet>    Ensure that fugitives are expeditiously and with due legal 
            process, brought to justice and are unable to evade justice 
            in one of our countries by fleeing to or remaining in the 
            other. To this end, we agree to negotiate a protocol to the 
            extradition treaty that, consistent with the legal system in 
            each country, will allow, under appropriate circumstances 
            and conditions, individuals to be tried in both countries 
            prior to the completion of their sentence in either country.
<bullet>    Identify the sources of, and deter the illegal traffic in 
            firearms.
<bullet>    Work together to conclude a hemispheric agreement outlawing 
            illegal traffic in firearms.
<bullet>    Work together for the success of the Special Session of the 
            U.N. General Assembly on Illicit Drugs in June 1998.
<bullet>    Increase the abilities of our democratic institutions to 
            attack and root out the corrupting influence of the illegal 
            drug trade in both countries.
<bullet>    Enhance cooperation along both sides of our common border to 
            increase security.
<bullet>    Control essential and precursor chemicals to prevent 
            chemical diversion and illicit use, and improve information 
            exchange on this subject.
<bullet>    Implement more effectively the laws and regulations to 
            detect and penalize money laundering in both countries, and 
            enhance bilateral and multilateral exchanges of information 
            and expertise to combat money laundering.
<bullet>    Seize and forfeit the proceeds and instrumentalities of drug 
            trafficking, and direct these to the use of drug prevention 
            and law enforcement, in accordance with legal procedures in 
            force in and between our countries.
<bullet>    Improve our capacity to interrupt drug shipments by air, 
            land, and sea.
<bullet>    Implement training and technical cooperation programs to 
            ensure that anti-drug personnel acquire needed capabilities 
            and perform with the highest level of professionalism and 
            integrity.
<bullet>    Enhance and facilitate exchange of information and evidence 
            to prosecute and convict criminals and deter drug 
            trafficking; and ensure the security and appropriate use of 
            the information and evidence provided.
    Our Alliance's counterdrug strategy, along with respective plans of 
operations for its im

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plementation shall be completed by the end of the year. Prior to that we 
will meet again with our respective responsible Cabinet Officers to 
resolve any outstanding issues, and review the progress in our 
cooperation.
    In pursuance of this Alliance Against Drugs, we hereby pledge the 
fullest support of ourselves and of our governments to construct drug 
free societies for the twenty-first century.
      

          William J. Clinton              Ernest Zedillo Ponce de Leon  
               President                            President           
     The United States of America          Federal Republic of Mexico   
                                                                        

Note: An original was not available for verification of the content of 
this declaration.