MEXPAZ: MEXICO UPDATE #144 10/15/97 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit MEXICO UPDATE #144 October 15, 1997 Produced by Equipo Pueblo _____________________________________________________________ This version of the Mexico Update contains four sections: Hurricanes; Politics/Democracy; Human Rights/; Justice and Economy/Trade. Comments welcome at e-mail: pueblodip@laneta.apc.org or by fax in Mexico City at (52-5) 672-7453 ____________________________________________________________ SPECIAL : HURRICANES Hurricane Paulina Devastates Pacific Coast On October 8-10, hurricane Paulina struck the Pacific coast states of Oaxaca and Guerrero, leaving behind a 500 kilometer trail of destruction and death. Official figures report some 173 deaths in the two states, but non-official ones estimate that as many 490 people have died. More than half a million people have been affected and aid is reaching communities very slowly, since most of it is arriving to larger towns, mainly Acapulco, where most of the deaths occurred. In remote communities that have not received assistance, however, there are signs of outbreaks of cholera, dengue, diarrhea, and other illnesses. Many communities in both states remain incommunicado. (Reforma, La Jornada, 9-13 October) PRI Officials Blamed Opposition parties, mainly the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), have severely criticized the government both for its failure to adequately alert the population ahead of time, and for slowness, corruption and political opportunism in the delivery of aid and the implementation of reconstruction projects. Members of the PRD told President Zedillo that it is "criminal" to give priority to the reconstruction of tourist sites while hundreds of Mexicans are dying. The Senate (dominated by the PRI) has allocated only 500,000 pesos (less than $80,000 dollars) for emergency relief so far. (Reforma, La Jornada, 10-13 October) Solidarity Triumphs People in Mexico City and other cities around the country have flooded the relief agencies with medicines, clothing, food, safe water, etc. President Zedillo interrupted his visit to Germany and returned to supervise aid and rescue operations. International solidarity has also been overwhelming. Help has been sent from Guatemala, Britain, the United States, Japan, Spain, France and the European Union, which will donate half a million dollars to the Red Cross. All the help from the U.S. has come from citizens, not the government. (Reforma, 15 October) Bad Weather Continues Around the Country Meanwhile, bad weather continues in many Mexican states as a sequel to hurricanes Paulina and Olaf (the one that struck the Pacific coast before Paulina); there have been intense rains all over the country (six people died in Veracruz); and freezing temperatures have killed at least one person in the north. Many ports both on the Pacific coast and the Gulf of Mexico remain closed. (La Jornada, Reforma, 15 October) HUMAN RIGHTS/ JUSTICE PRD President in Mexico City Criticizes Police Operations The PRD demanded an end to violent police operatives in Mexico City, arguing that they have only imposed terror on the population and have complicated the political climate prior to the mayoral inauguration in December. There have been hundreds of arrests and at least four youths have been killed since the police started raiding poorer neighborhoods in search of criminals. According to Armando Quintero, the PRD president in the Federal District, the civil rights of Mexico City residents have been consistently violated since the July 6 elections, when Cuahtemoc Cardenas won the first election for mayor of this city. He accused the current mayor, Oscar Espinosa, of declaring war on the citizens of the city. He also questioned why the heads of criminal groups have not been captured, since, he claimed, security forces know who they are and where to find them. (La Jornada, 11 and 12 October) Peace Talks Still Stalled in Chiapas The National Commission for Peace and Agreement (COCOPA) reported that neither the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) nor the federal government have responded to its call to restart the peace talks. The coordinator of the PRD in the Senate warned that although the EZLN and the federal army are not currently fighting, there is still ongoing violence in indigenous communities. Sub-commander Marcos declared recently that there will be peace in Chiapas when the government complies with the San Andres accords. (La Jornada, 14 and 15 October). POLITICS AND DEMOCRACY Budget Debate Heats Up The debate over the 1998 federal budget in Congress heated up this week. The PRI is seeking a reduction in running expenditures, the elimination of global subsidies, an increase in prices of public goods and services, and 15% (or more) salary increases. The representatives of the National Action Party (PAN) insisted on the need to eliminate the Secretariats of General Accounting, Agrarian Reform, Tourism, and Energy, and to substantially reduce bureaucratic expenditures in every public agency. The PRD and the Green Party (PVEM) centered the debate on the need to increase social spending with a "moderate and manageable" increase in the fiscal deficit and called for the elimination of the highway and banking rescues from the federal budget. (El Financiero, 15 October). Gurria Called to Testify Before Congress Representatives from the five political parties in Congress signed an agreement to call Mexican Secretary of Foreign Relations Gurria to appear before them to explain the incidents that occurred during President Zedillo=92s visit to France and Germany. They agreed that in the future the President should meet certain criteria before being granted permission to carry out such visits. PAN representative Julio Faesler criticized Zedillo=92s lack of interest in meeting with Amnesty International and said that this caused the public outcry from human rights organizations in Paris. He said that the government must improve its relationship with organizations of civil society instead of hindering it. He also criticized the "sudden" signing of a treaty of Protection for German investments in Mexico, which, he said, puts foreign investors=92 interests ahead those of Mexicans and will likely be followed by British and French requests for the same treatment. (La Jornada, 15 October) Papal Nuncio Rejects Possibility of Being Expelled The recent remarks of the papal nuncio in Mexico, Justo Mullor Garcia, regarding corruption and drug trafficking in the Mexican army and his criticism of public education have led to a wave of criticism and some calls for his expulsion, based on Article 33 of the Constitution However, Mullor said that those who want him out are part of a small group nostalgic for of the past, when the Church remained silent on social issues. The Mexican Episcopal Conference, however, announced that it will ask Mullor to explain his comments. (La Jornada, 12 October, Reforma 15 October). PAN Distances Itself From the PRD The PAN sought to distance itself from the PRD this week, insisting that it will not accept Porfirio Munoz Ledo=92s "attempts to portray himself as the leader of the opposition bloc" in Congress, and emphasizing that such a bloc does not exist. (Reforma, 15 October). This follows a series of mutual accusations among the leaders of the two parties. Carlos Medina Placencia, the PAN congressional coordinator who made the statements, said that such a bloc could not exist, considering the major differences between the two parties on economic policy issues. He said that the PAN only agreed to join forces with the PRD in order to free the Congress from PRI domination. (Reforma, 15 October) Senate May Not Ratify Treaty With Germany Rosendo Villareal Davila, the president of the Senate Committee on Commerce, warned that the Senate may not ratify the treaty to Promote and Protect Investment signed by the Mexican and German governments during President Zedillo=B4s visit to Germany last week, because it protects Germa= n interests to the detriment of Mexican sovereignty. Meanwhile, Herminio Blanco, Secretary of Trade and Industry, defended the treaty by saying that many countries have signed it before and that it will create employment in Mexico. Villareal criticized Zedillo for not informing the Senate about his intention to sign the treaty before traveling to Europe. (El Financiero, 13 October) ECONOMY AND TRADE Mexican Agriculture Affected by NAFTA Luis Hernadez Navarro, advisor to the National Coordinator of Coffee Organizations, announced that after three years and nine months, NAFTA has not accomplished its objectives for the agricultural sector. He said that Mexican agricultural products are still far from having free access to the United States and Canada. He added that free trade (with Mexico) is under attack in the United States not only because of job losses but because the health of US citizens is at risk due to contaminated imports. In Mexico, he said that the net losers under NAFTA have been peasant producers of basic grains while the winners have been the producers of export crops (mostly vegetables). Since NAFTA went into effect, Mexican imports have grown 15% while exports only 11.6%. (La Jornada, 15 October) Privatizations to be Investigated Fauzi Hamdan, the president of the Oversight Committee on General Accounting in the Chamber of Deputies, said that the Committee will audit thirty of the largest privatization and concession projects over the past several years. This will include the privatization of Telefonos de Mexico (Telmex) and Television Azteca. As a first step, the five parties in Congress will re-open the Conasupo Commission investigating irregularities in this state food company during the Salinas administration. Raul Salinas, the brother of the former president who is in jail on charges of complicity in the murder of former PRI president Francisco Ruiz Massieu and illicit enrichment is a prime target of the investigation. At the same time, the legislators are studying the privatization of the Mexican Radio Institute (IMER), the newspaper El Nacional, and the news agency Notimex. (El Financiero, 15 October). Growth Forecast Eduardo Bours, President of the Business Coordinating Council (CCE), said that even though economic growth in 1997 will be higher than expected, it will not be high enough to raise the living standard of the population. The Mexican economy, he said, will grow 6.5%, in 1997, which is 2.5% higher than previous estimates. He also predicted that inflation will not surpass 16%, interest rates will decrease and the exchange rate will remain stable. He said that despite the economic recovery, pre=971994 economic indicators will not be reached until the second half of the Zedillo administration, and he warned that an economic slow down in the United States could negatively affect the Mexican economy. He also spoke in favor of a reduction of capital gains taxes (from 34% to 30%), but said that the value added tax (VAT) should be kept as is. (La Jornada, 11 October). 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