MEXICO CITY — The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration on Thursday praised Mexican President Vicente Fox's anti-corruption efforts, including the arrests of a general and two other Mexican army officers.
The arrests "indicate to me that this government is willing to take whatever steps necessary to address the corruption problems that hamper our ability to dismantle drug organizations," Administrator Donnie Marshall told a news conference during meetings with anti-drug officials in Mexico City.
The army officers are charged with cooperating with Gilberto Garcia Mena, the leader of a drug trafficking gang once known as the Gulf Cartel, who was arrested April 9. Garcia was ordered this week to stand trial on criminal association, drug and weapons charges.
"We are impressed by President Fox's commitment to making the fight against drug trafficking a priority of his administration," Marshall said.
Mexican Attorney General Rafael Macedo said the two countries need to improve their investigation of the origins of drug shipments, rather than just seizing them.
Macedo said Marshall and the Mexican officials talked about strengthening intelligence units on the border and relocating some of them inside Mexican territory. He did not say whether U.S. agents would help staff those intelligence posts.
Marshall also praised a recent Mexican Supreme Court decision that removed the last roadblocks to extraditing Mexican drug suspects to the United States.
"I am convinced that trafficking will become a lot less attractive ... if those involved are absolutely certain that they will be called to account for their crimes in whatever country they have victimized," Marshall said.
Marshall did not mention the Fox administration's most notable setback, the January escape of reputed top drug trafficker Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman from a maximum-security prison, allegedly with the help of corrupt prison authorities.
But he said "it certainly is no secret that from time to time there have been difficulties in our work. But we have navigated our way through those difficulties."