A lawyer and a former Assistant Secretary of State for international narcotics matters, Ms. Falco is an advocate of reforms.

Mathea Falco, president of Drug Strategies, a nonprofit research institute, was assistant secretary of state for international narcotics matters in the Carter administration.

That document said that the meeting was to "discuss U.S. relations with Panama and narcotics matters."

The agents' arrest comes days after United States-Mexican relations over narcotics matters were strained by two other reports of top-level corruption in Mexican law enforcement units.

One is that former Government officials should not be permitted to represent foreign governments on narcotics matters until three years after leaving office.

"And a few months after I arrived, a third set of sanctions were slapped on because of a finding that Nigeria was not cooperating in narcotics matters."

In 1970 he was appointed special assistant to the Secretary of State for narcotics matters in Washington.

He was receptive to keeping the lines of communication open with the United States and discussing various means of cooperation in narcotics matters.

The State Department told us in December that there is no cooperation between Cuba and the U.S. on narcotics matters, either officially or unofficially.

"All information is that he's getting larger by the day," said a Western official who follows narcotics matters.