Mexican agents accused of using plane to smuggle cocaine
18 jailed in first case alleging officers' use of counternarcotics
aircraft

By Tracey Eaton / The Dallas Morning News

MEXICO CITY Antidrug agents used a counternarcotics plane to smuggle
130 pounds of cocaine from the MexicoGuatemala border to Mexico City,
but they were arrested when they landed at the airport, authorities said
Thursday.

Eighteen people have been jailed in connection with the case, which
marks the first time agents have been arrested for using an
antinarcotics aircraft to smuggle drugs.

Mexican Attorney General Jorge Madrazo said Thursday that the arrests
should serve as a warning to others.

"Any public servant who is discovered to be involved in crime will not
only be fired, but charged," he said. "That is the only way to close the
door on corruption."

The episode, the latest in a string of embarrassments for Mexico's
antidrug forces, underscores one of the difficulties of cleaning up the
attorney general's office, said a U.S. official and expert on American
drug policy in Mexico.

"It's a Catch22. By doing the right thing, the Mexicans are
highlighting how corrupt it is," said the official, who requested
anonymity. "That's frustrating for us and frustrating for the Mexicans,
too. They're probably thinking that maybe they'd be better off doing
business the old way. That is, firing people without giving any public
explanation. That way, they get rid of the problem and there's never any
investigation."

In other cases this year, Mexican antidrug police have been linked to
everything from stealing cocaine shipments to accepting cash,
bulletproof cars, cellular phones and jewelry from drug traffickers.

Drug corruption scandals are not only embarrassing to the Mexican
government, they are also politically damaging, analysts say. And the
ruling powers in Mexico are paying a lot of attention to politics these
days. That's because the political opposition now holds a majority in
the lower chamber of the Mexican Congress, giving it the ability to call
for independent investigations into corruption.

With the opposition digging into corruption, analysts say, it's going to
be more difficult in the coming years for unscrupulous officials to
cover up illegal acts.

There is also the diplomatic pressure from Washington and the Mexicans
are clearly feeling it. The State Department isn't due to evaluate
Mexico's antidrug efforts until March and already Mexican officials are
criticizing it.

Mr. Madrazo said the State Department's policy of decertifying those
countries that are judged as not fully cooperating in the antidrug
fight "doesn't help at all" to boost joint U.S.Mexico efforts to pursue
drug traffickers.

Some American lawmakers have disputed that view, saying Mexico ought to
have been decertified this year as a way of forcing the Mexican
government to intensify its fight against traffickers.

Decertification means a loss of some U.S. trade benefits and other
sanctions.

Tom Cash, a former highlevel official with the Drug Enforcement
Administration said he believes that the certification debate can be
counterproductive.

This week's arrest of the antidrug agents "is not something to beat
your chest and be proud of," he said. "But things could be worse.

"You've got to step off the dance floor and look for signs of progress.
And this is probably a good sign because at least these people were
arrested," he said. "It would have been worse if nobody had reported it.
When people stop reporting these incidents, then all you can do is throw
your hands up and toss the baby and the bath water out."

Another U.S. law enforcement official, who has spent years investigating
Mexico's drug trade, agreed that the arrests are a positive sign.

"The Mexican attorney general's office and the Mexican government in
general are doing their best to eradicate corruption at all levels," he
said.

Some American officials will probably point to the case to show "how
totally corrupt Mexico is. But no single country can cast stones. There
is drug corruption in every country of the world."

The cocaine smuggling affair began Tuesday, authorities say, when
antidrug agents loaded 131.5 pounds or 59.8 kilos of cocaine onto
an attorney general's plane in the Mexican town of Tapachula in the
southern state of Chiapas. They then took off toward Mexico City.

An anonymous caller told their superiors what was going on, and about 50
heavily armed federal police agents and soldiers were sent to Mexico
City's international airport to greet the plane, described as a Grumman
aircraft, tail number XCAA.

The attorney general's office on Tuesday said little except that the
"public servants" who had been in possession of cocaine were arrested.
Further details began surfacing Wednesday and Thursday.

It remains unclear who flew the plane, where on the aircraft the cocaine
was hidden and how many agents participated in the smuggling.

Authorities identified the suspects as:

Pedro Espinosa Salva, Gerardo Ortiz Ponce, Arturo Balbuena Martinez,
Julio Cesar Castellanos Martinez, Carlos Jorge Dominguez Albores, Ruben
Partida Vargas, Edmundo Espindola Viera, Roberto Arce Gonzalez, Oscar
Julio Elizalde Gutierrez, Jose Martin Torres Flores, Juan Manuel Barreda
Loyola, Juan Antonio Reyes Ruiz, Enrique Rojas Flores, Edgar Mauricio
Valenzuela Guzman, Severiano Segundo Olea, Norberto Miranda, Javier
Gutierrez Rivera and Gilberto Martinez Ramirez.

Mexico City's Reforma newspaper said the men were members of the
Attorney General's Special Aerial Interdiction Team, formed in 1995.

Most are pilots, said Eduardo Ibarrola, a deputy Mexican attorney
general.

"These arrests are very, very serious. They show just how rotten it is
inside the attorney general's office," said Eduardo Valle, former head
of a Mexican antidrug unit.

"And there's still very much we don't know about the case. Who were
these people? Who was responsible? How high up did this go?" asked Mr.
Valle, who is writing a book on drug corruption in Mexico from 1988 to
1994.