1.  Alfonso Zarate, a Mexican political analyst, says even a weakened PRI still has the resources to defend its interests.

2.  Longtime Mexican analysts said it came as no surprise that the influence of drug money had reached into the highest levels of the military.

3.  Mexican financial analysts said the maneuvering in Washington was the result of domestic U.S. politics.

4.  Some Mexican political analysts said, however, that Zedillo may have strengthened his badly weakened presidency by showing his resolve to act forcefully against the rebels.

5.  A Mexican analyst, Antonio Diez Quezada of the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico, said he was sure the pope would come if at all possible.

6.  Mexican analysts questioned whether the assistance would be worth it.

7.  But Mexican political analysts say the scandal over the bribes may be a ploy to take attention away from the basics of the case and to free Raul Salinas.