MEXICAN PRESIDENT DENIES HUMAN RIGHTS ACCUSATIONS Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Copyright 1997 by Reuters Sun, 5 Oct 1997 9:50:34 PDT PARIS (Reuter) - Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo Sunday rejected accusations from human rights organizations that Mexico's record on human rights had deteriorated to become one of the worst in Latin America. ``We accept that there are violations of human rights in Mexico, and it's serious...But to say that we're the worst in Latin America is something we can't accept,'' Zedillo told human rights workers on the second day of a state visit to France. ``It's important to recognize the efforts we've made,'' he said. ``It's not something that can be resolved overnight.'' Representatives of human rights groups say abuses are rife despite political liberalization, notably the Institutional Revolutionary Party's (PRI) loss of its legislative majority for the first time in 68 years. Three journalists have been killed this year, raising the total to six since 1995, and dozens of others have been assaulted or threatened, according to Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Frontiers. Human rights groups say torture and police brutality persist despite government pledges of reform, and that large parts of the conflict-ridden rural states of Chiapas and Guerrero are in effect ruled by the army. Amnesty International says the number of political prisoners has jumped from five at the beginning of the decade to 150, and that previously rare ``disappearances'' or unexplained abductions are growing frequent. Thirty cases have been reported this year. ``It's true that Mexico for years was better than other, more serious cases. They didn't kill in Mexico as they did in Argentina, Guatemala or Chile,'' said Robert Menard of Reporters Without Frontiers. ``Today the situation has improved in many Latin American countries but deteriorated in Mexico. The situation in Mexico today is worse than other Latin American countries,'' he said. ``Given the lack of respect for human rights...human rights organizations will fight to prevent the European Union from signing any accord with Mexico.'' One of Zedillo's objectives on this trip is to strengthen Mexico's ties to the EU to counterbalance the overwhelming influence of the United States. Zedillo is scheduled to meet President Jacques Chirac Monday and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin Tuesday before going on to Germany for talks with Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Zedillo told human rights representatives that Mexico had tightened rules against police abuse and torture and established a human rights watchdog. ``The institutions are young and their functioning could be improved, but you can't deny the advances we've made in these areas.'' Relations between Mexico and human rights organizations were strained by the expulsion in April of two members of a team from the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (FIDH) investigating abuses in Chiapas and Guerrero. Mexican officials said they did not have the right visas. ``We have never been expelled, not even from Chile under (General Augusto) Pinochet, from Argentina or other dictatorships,'' FIDH Secretary-General Claude Katz said. Last month Zedillo declined to meet Amnesty International Secretary-General Pierre Sane during his official visit to Mexico. Zedillo said his office was unaware that Sane had requested a meeting, and that the incident did not reflect Mexico's stance toward human rights. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytcamer-10.08.97-23:39:49-9747