June 4, 1998
PRESS BRIEFING BY MIKE MCCURRY
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
______________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release June 4, 1998
PRESS BRIEFING BY
MIKE MCCURRY
The Briefing Room
3:45 P.M. EDT
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Q Mexico now says it intends to prosecute U.S. agents
involved in Operation Casablanca. Will we extradite those agents if
requested by Mexico?
MR. MCCURRY: We have a very good and important and
useful dialogue with the government of Mexico on that point. I'm not
aware that they have taken any steps with respect to that.
Q Their attorney general is quoted as saying as much.
MR. MCCURRY: I'm aware of the quote; I'm not aware that
they have taken any steps that reflect that point of view.
Q You mean, you're not aware that they've asked
specifically?
MR. MCCURRY: I'm not aware that they have taken any
legal steps to carry out that point of view.
Q What would our position be if they do?
MR. MCCURRY: We are working very closely with the them
to address concerns that they have, but that does not erode the
fundamental importance that both governments attach to fighting drug
traffic.
Q But would we allow them to actually try our agents
in Mexico?
MR. MCCURRY: My point is that that's an entirely
hypothetical question.
Q Mike, still on Mexico, the Mexican government also
mentioned that they are planning to negotiate with the United States
next week during the bilateral meeting the extradition of these U.S.
Custom agents. If the United States want the narco-traffickers to be
extradited to this country, they have to extradite these U.S. Customs
agents to Mexico. And the Foreign Minister of Mexico has just
announced that, and says he met with Madeleine Albright and told her
about it. Are you taking seriously this Mexican question?
MR. MCCURRY: We understand the strong views of the
government of Mexico on this point, but they are aware of our
concerns that we've expressed to them. You're right that Foreign
Secretary Green has had some dialogue with Secretary Albright on this
point. I expect that President Zedillo and President Clinton may
have an opportunity to get together soon to discuss this and other
matters. And you're right, there will be the annual meeting of the
Binational Commission next week in which always law enforcement
issues, counter-drug issues, matters like that arise. So there will
be a number of venues soon in which we can have appropriate dialogue
with the government of Mexico on their concerns and talk about our
common agenda when it comes to fighting drug-trafficking.
Q How would the two Presidents meet? Where do you
anticipate?
MR. MCCURRY: The President, as you know, on Monday is
going to be addressing the United Nations Drugs Conference, and I
believe that President Zedillo will be in attendance as well.
Q You're being very judicious here, but you seem to
be leaving open the possibility that the U.S. might be willing to see
its agents extradited. Do you mean to leave open that possibility?
MR. MCCURRY: I very clearly did not leave open that
possibility by indicating that there's nothing pending that would
raise that as an issue as I made quite clear.
Q You're not willing to say that we explicitly rule
that out?
MR. MCCURRY: I'm willing to say that we have expressed
our views very clearly privately to the government of Mexico.
Q Is it conceivable that we would allow our customs
agents to be extradited, to be tried in Mexico on this charge?
MR. MCCURRY: I think that I have addressed the question
in this setting as much as I'm going to address it.
Q Do you really feel that the Mexico-U.S. relation is
still the same? Some Mexican authorities says something is going to
change --
MR. MCCURRY: It is a profoundly important relationship
and it often weathers moments in which, particularly in Mexico,
people feel that there is an imbalance. And we work very hard and
take very seriously our obligation to meet our obligations to the
government of Mexico. And we take seriously the representations that
the government of Mexico makes to us about the work that they will do
with us to address concerns that we have on our side of the border.
Let me point to what we referred to earlier -- the
meeting next week of the Binational Commission. There is no other
bilateral relationship we have on Earth in which we have such an
extensive and broad cooperation across a range of government
agencies. It is an important aspect of our relationship. It's one
in which we mutually and in equality address the concerns that two
sovereign nations have. So we do take it very seriously and we don't
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END 3:30 P.M. EDT