Summary: The Mexican government's counternarcotics activities in 1998 have not been without positive results. One of its major accomplishments was the arrest of two major drug traffickers. The Mexican foreign minister has approved the extradition of one of the traffickers to the United States, but he has appealed the decision. In addition, it conducted a major operation in Cancun, where four hotels and other large properties allegedly belonging to drug traffickers were seized. Mexico also implemented its currency and suspicious reporting requirements. In addition, the Mexican government has proposed or undertaken several new initiatives. For example, it has begun an initiative to prevent illegal drugs from entering Mexico and announced a new counternarcotics strategy and the creation of a national police force. One of the major impediments to U.S. and Mexican counternarcotics objectives is Mexican government corruption. According to one U.S. estimate, Mexican narcotics traffickers spend as much as $6 billion a year to suborn government officials at all levels. Since 1997, the Departments of State and Defense have provided the government of Mexico with more than $92 million worth of equipment, training, and aviation spare parts for counternarcotics purposes. Last year, GAO testified that some of the assistance provided to Mexico was of limited usefulness because of operational and logistical support problems. Unfortunately, the situation with the UH-1H helicopters has worsened. Since March 1998, all of these helicopters provided to the Mexican military have been grounded because of airworthiness concerns. In addition, four C-26 aircraft are not being used for counternarcotics operations.
