Since last fall, the United States has halted military assistance to Mexico because of a dispute over whether U.S. citizens should be exempt from prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The sanctions were imposed in October after Mexico became a signatory to the Hague-based ICC, which was set up in 2002 to hunt down perpetrators of genocide and other crimes against humanity.

Mexico was the 12th country from the Latin America-Caribbean area to be sanctioned under a law approved by the U.S. Congress four years ago.

In each case, the sanctions have been imposed without an official announcement. Jan Edmonson, spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department bureau of Western Hemisphere affairs, confirmed the sanctions against Mexico in response to an inquiry from The Associated Press.

The penalties involve the loss of US$1.1 million budgeted for English-language, counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics training. Also affected was a US$2.5 million program to provide counter-terrorism equipment to the Mexican military.

The sanctions could create a political tempest in Mexico, which often views with suspicion actions by its giant northern neighbor.

U.S. President George W. Bush could mitigate that by using his authority to waive the sanctions. His relations with President Vicente Fox have been generally good, though Fox has been disappointed in the absence of progress toward a migration agreement.

Bush and Fox will meet at the end of the month, days after a Cabinet-level meeting in between the two countries.

ICC-related sanctions have cut the roster of trainees from the hemisphere by almost 800 over the past few years, eroding the traditionally deep military ties between the U.S. and Latin American militaries. Worldwide, about two dozen countries have been sanctioned.

Countries that wish to join the ICC and evade sanctions have the option of signing immunity agreements with the United States that shield U.S. citizens and soldiers from ICC jurisdiction. More than 100 countries have done so.

Mexico announced last month that it has no plans to enter into any such deal, known in government lexicon as an "Article 98" agreement.

Rubén Aguilar, the spokesman for Fox, said last month that Mexico "will be irrefutable in supporting the protocols of the international court, whatever the cost. Nobody in the world should be immune from the action of justice."

The Mexican government declined comment on the U.S. sanctions. Historically, Mexico has not been a recipient of U.S. assistance. The programs suspended last fall were relatively new.

The 2002 U.S. law is known as the American Servicemembers Protection Act. Lawmakers approved it out of concern that U.S. citizens overseas, including military personnel, diplomats and ordinary citizens, could be subject to politically motivated ICC prosecutions.

EXAGGERATED CONCERNS

Defenders of the court insist that such concerns are greatly exaggerated because of safeguards written into the ICC statute.

Gen. Bantz Craddock, the commander of U.S. military forces in Latin America, said the United States is paying a price for the sanctions.

"We now risk losing contact and interoperability with a generation of military classmates in many nations of the region, including several leading countries," Craddock told the U.S, Congress last year.

He will repeat his concerns next week during separate appearances before the U.S. House and Senate Armed Services committees.

Gen. Jonathan S. Gration, the director of strategy, policy and assessments for U.S. European Command, said the sanctions are impairing the U.S. counter-terrorism effort in East Africa.

"The restrictions we´ve put on our ability to move in Africa may be hurting the very people we are trying to help," he said.