HANGING OUT THE (COCAINE) LAUNDRY

American businesses, rather than U.S. banks, are now the chosen money launderers for Cali cartel cocaine profits, according to Monday's New York Times. But TIME's Elaine Shannon says that the heart of the Cali money laundering operation may well be south of the border. "The real story is that Mexico has replaced Panama as the money laundering haven for the cartel," says Shannon. "Mexican banks don't require rigorous documentation for large deposits, so huge trucks -- 18-wheelers full of cash -- go down there and dump the money into Mexican banks. It's really a black hole in Mexico. And there is a political dimension to this. The Clinton administration is reluctant to try to get the Mexican government to tighten its banking regulations because of the shaky condition of the peso. They are afraid people will pull their money out of Mexican banks and that the Mexican economy will fall apart." Approximately 80 percent of the cocaine that is consumed in the U.S. comes through Mexico.