DATE=2/10/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=MEXICO DRUGS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-259039
BYLINE=GREG FLAKUS
DATELINE=MEXICO CITY
CONTENT=
VOICED AT=
INTRO: The director of the US Office of National Drug
Control Policy, retired General Barry McCaffrey,
wrapped up his two-day visit to Mexico on Thursday,
after inspecting Mexican anti-smuggling operations
along the nation's southern border. As VOA's Greg
Flakus reports from Mexico City, the US drug policy
chief warned that narcotics are now flowing again
through some old routes.
TEXT: On Thursday, Mexican officials showed General
McCaffrey how they are using new x-ray devices at
border crossings from Guatemala and Belize to search
for illicit drug shipments coming up from Central
America. But as Mexicans succeed in their efforts,
General McCaffrey says the drug smugglers are shifting
at least some of their operations elsewhere, including
their old smuggling routes in the Caribbean.
He says there is evidence of more drugs passing
through Haiti,the Dominican Republic and Jamaica. The
retired four-star general says that about 55 percent
of all the cocaine consumed in the United States still
comes through what he calls the Mexico corridor.
Increased enforcement efforts in the Caribbean in the
1980's caused smugglers to shift as much as two thirds
of their cocaine shipments to Mexico. Now, General
McCaffrey says smugglers are returning to some of the
old Caribbean routes.
The US drug policy director also sees the danger of
more drug smuggling activity in Panama since the
United States military pulled out of that country late
last year in fulfillment of the 1977 Panama Canal
Treaties.
General McCaffrey says the drug smuggling
organizations are very quick to take advantage of such
openings. An effort to negotiate an agreement with
Panama to maintain an anti-drug operation there failed
last year. Panama's President Mireya Moscoso, who
assumed office in September, has ruled out the return
of any kind of US military presence in her country.
Panama borders Colombia, which is the source of 80
percent of the world's cocaine and the location of
some of the most powerful drug cartels.
In regard to Mexico, General McCaffrey says there has
been excellent cooperation in the fight against
smugglers. He says Mexican officials realize the
grave threat to their nation posed by powerful
criminal organizations and the threat to their society
posed by drugs. The general says the three countries
in the North American Free Trade Agreement, Mexico,
The United States and Canada, are all-- in his words--
"in the same boat." He says they must work together
to confront the problem of drugs that threatens them
all. (Signed)
NEB/PT
10-Feb-2000 19:58 PM EDT (11-Feb-2000 0058 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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