Dianne Feinstein: “section 490 of the Foreign Assistance Act requires the President to certify that Mexico has cooperated fully with the…”

“section 490 of the Foreign Assistance Act requires the President to certify that Mexico has cooperated fully with the United States, or taken adequate steps on its own to combat drug trafficking. It's just not tenable to claim that Colombia did not meet that standard, but Mexico did. Let me read one sentence from the decertification of Colombia in 1996. It reads: Critical to the U.S. judgment that the Government of Colombia did not fully cooperate on counternarcotics in 1995 is the assessment that corruption remains pervasive, despite the efforts of some dedicated Colombians to root it out. That is no different from the situation in Mexico today. There are dedicated efforts in Mexico, but the corruption is pervasive. I think the events of last week are an example in point. Just hours before the President's decision on certification of Mexico was to be announced, Mexican officials were touting the arrest of a reputed cartel leader, Humberto Garcia Abrego, brother of Juan Garcia Abrego, who was expelled from Mexico during last year's certification process. Then, just a few hours after the decision to certify was announced, guess what? Garcia Abrego simply walked away from Mexican custody a free man. The Mexican Attorney General's office claimed responsibility for setting him free. His release was 'inexplicable,' they said. Mr. President, this is just one example of the kind of cooperation the United States has received.…”