ACCESSION NUMBER:00000
FILE ID:96022202.POL
DATE:02/22/96
TITLE:22-02-96  WHITE HOUSE REPORT, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22

TEXT:
(Mexico/drugs/NAFTA, Guatemala/Harbury) (500)

NEWS BRIEFING -- Press Secretary Mike McCurry discussed the following
topics:

U.S.-MEXICAN TIES

McCurry turned aside questions based on a Washington Post story
asserting there are differences within the administration on
certifying Mexico as a nation cooperating with U.S. efforts to control
illicit narcotics. Agency recommendations are to be forwarded to
President Clinton in time for a March 1 report to Congress.

"As usual when people write about differences in the White House," he
said, "they vastly overstate differences."

While he noted "there are a lot of aspects" to the relationship, he
insisted that "Mexico is a very trusted, very important ally of the
United States and any issue" like certification "will be handled in
that context. I can't say anything beyond that."

The Post story, quoting unnamed administration officials, asserted
that domestic politics is impinging on Clinton's impending decision
under the 1986 Foreign Assistance Act. It noted that Clinton could
face a political problem with Republicans critical of his effort to
control drugs if he does not de-certify Mexico. One administration
faction, however, fears de-certification would jeopardize cooperation
with Mexico -- which claims "significant achievements" in the drug
battle -- on other issues.

The certification process identifies countries as drug-producing or
drug transit nations and controls U.S. aid to them. Mexico has
denounced the law as "interventionist."

On a related matter, McCurry said Republican presidential candidate
Pat Buchanan is "wrong" when he claims the NAFTA agreement has cost
300,000 U.S. jobs and turned a trade surplus into a deficit. But he
added he would not make it a practice to respond to Buchanan's
allegations and "would not try to rebut" his claims.

FATE OF GUATEMALA GUERRILLA LEADER

McCurry said the final report of the Intelligence Oversight Board on
Efraim Bamaca is expected in the early part of the year, but he said a
precise date is not available. He told a questioner he could not speak
for the Bush administration when asked if Clinton was aware that the
White House had information about Bamaca's fate in 1992, according to
documents recently obtained under Freedom of Information proceedings.

Bamaca was a Guatemalan guerrilla leader and the husband of Jennifer
Harbury, a U.S. lawyer who has mounted a years-long campaign to
determine the circumstances of Bamaca's death, apparently at the hands
of the Guatemalan military. Employees of the Central Intelligence
Agency have been censured on charges that information was withheld
from the State Department and the White House concerning Bamaca's
capture and execution by persons once retained by the agency.

"We've gone to considerable lengths to make sure we have an absolutely
correct historical record of what happened," McCurry said, including
"how the issue was handled and what information was made
available....The American people have the right to know exactly how a
matter like this was handled." The government, he added, owed Harbury
"better answers" about what it knew of Bamaca's fate.
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