Mexico Update 142 10/1/97 MEXPAZ Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source:MEXPAZ_information MEXICO UPDATE #142 October 1, 1997 Produced by Equipo Pueblo This version of the Mexico Update contains three sections: Politics/Democracy/Elections; Human Rights/Justice and Economy/Trade. Comments welcome: email pueblodip@laneta.apc.org Fax in Mexico City (52-5) 672-7453 POLITICS/ DEMOCRACY Opposition Wins Struggle Over Committee Chairs in Chamber After weeks of struggle, the PRI lost the vote in the Chamber of Deputies over the make up of legislative committees, and the opposition bloc won another major victory. The committee chairs were distributed proportionally, according to the percentage of seats each party hold in the Chamber, leaving the PRI with 27, the PRD and PAN with 14 each, the PT and PVEM with two each, and one committee (Equity and Gender) with a rotational chair. However, the PRI did not get control of key strategic committees : the Interior and Accounting went to the PAN; Programming and Budget went to the PRD. The PRI maintained control of the Committee on Finance, Arms Services, and Indigenous Affairs. Each commission has 30 seats, which will be divided proportionally as well, meaning that the PRI will have fourteen seats, the PAN and the PRD seven each; and the PT and the PVEM one each. (El Financiero, 1 October; Reforma, 27 September) New Mexican Ambassador to US President Zedillo appointed the Secretary of Energy, Jesus Reyes Heroles, to replace the current Mexican ambassador to Washington, Jesus Silva Herzog. He is expected to take over the post at the end of October or early November, and will be formally introduced to President Clinton during Zedillo's visit to Washington on November 14. Silva Herzog had requested to be returned to Mexico a year ago in order to "do whatever he feels like." Reyes Heroles has little experience in foreign relations, but met with the approval of the US government, partly because he has direct access to President Zedillo. He will be replaced in the Energy Department by the head of the Office of the President, Luis Tellez. According to the new internal guidelines of the Foreign Relations Secretariat, the role of the ambassador in Washington is to provide information and the overall context of the issues being debated there, but not to make key decisions. (El Financiero, 1 October) Chaos in the PRI Since President Zedillo took office, dozens of well-known leaders of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) have resigned from the party in response to the lack of internal democracy, the lack of will to reform, and the party's increasing removal from the interests of average citizens. Many of these leaders have joined opposition parties, or have begun to form their own. Meanwhile, the leader of the new "Renaissance Movement" within the PRI, Agustin Basave, insists that the strongest opposition to reform within the PRI will continue to come from the government (and in particular the Secretary of the Interior), and not from traditional party activists. (Reforma, 28 September) Vicente Fox Calls on PAN to Take Offensive In an interview with Reforma newspaper, the PAN Governor of Guanajuato, Vicente Fox, calls on his party's leaders to redouble their efforts to modernize and retake the initiative in the national political debate. Fox, who has declared that he will seek his party's nomination for President in the next elections in the year 2000, admitted that, for now, the PRD has greater public presence than the PAN, but insisted that this is simply a "temporary" setback for his party, while its leaders regroup and develop a new strategy. (Reforma, 28 September) HUMAN RIGHTS/JUSTICE More Bodies Found On September 29, the bodies of three people who appeared to have been executed with gunshots to the head were found on the outskirts of Mexico City. This brings to thirteen the number of cadavers found in similar circumstances in the metropolitan area during the past three weeks. During the first week of September, there was a shoot-out between the police and alleged criminals in the crime-ridden neighborhood of Buenos Aires. A police officer was killed, and six youths disappeared after the shoot-out. Neighborhood residents say that several of them were seen being taken away by the police. Just days later, three of the youths were found executed while another was found under interrogation at the police station. It is widely believed that the victims were executed by the police, and many suspect that the bodies discovered this week belong to their friends. (Reforma, 30 September) Salgado Threatens Curfew in Mexico City The Secretary of Public Security in the Federal District, Enrique Salgado, warned that if the widespread (and often illegal) police operatives are not continued, then officials would have to enact a curfew in the nation's capital to deal with the problem of crime. The announcement was broadly rejected by citizens, human rights organizations and opposition political parties. In a survey by Reforma newspaper, 78% of respondents said that they were opposed to a curfew, while 17% agreed and 5% didn't know. 85% of respondents said that this would not resolve the crime problem in the city. (Reforma, 27 September) New Anti-Drug Strategy to be Developed Mexican and US officials will meet in Washington from October 23-25 in order to design a new strategy for cooperating in the "war on drugs." Meanwhile, the Secretariat of Foreign Relations announced that US planes would be allowed to fly over national territory and land on Mexican military bases while carrying out their anti-drug campaigns. This angered opposition Senators, who said that Foreign Relations Secretary Jose Angel Gurria did not fulfill his promise to keep them abreast of all international agreements made by the Mexican government. (El Financiero, 30 September) Pollution Reaches Emergency Levels Last week, ozone levels reached 270 points in Mexico City, leading government officials to put into effect "Phase I" of the city's environmental contingency plan. This means that half of the cars in the city were unable to circulate. This is the fifth time a Phase I emergency has been enacted in the city since they were established in December 1995. The authorities said that the emergency was the result of a lack of winds, which usually move some of the pollution out of the city. (Reforma, 28 September) ECONOMY/TRADE Investors Concerned About Budget Foreign banks and investment firms have expressed concerns that the 1998 federal budget will not be approved on time (by December 15), leading to economic instability. They called on the Mexican Congress to "... guarantee political and economic stability" and suggested that the budget be delivered to Congress as soon as possible so that they will have time to debate and approve it. The fact that the Chamber of Deputies took weeks to simply decide on committee leadership positions makes investors worried that the more complicated budget debate could take months. (El Financiero, 29 September) Capital Flight on the Rise Total Mexican deposits in US banks amounted to $27.9 billion dollars in May 1997, according to the Federal Reserve Bulletin. Although this is less than the historic maximum of $31.2 billion in December 1996, it illustrates a significant increase over the December 1994 pre-crisis level of $12.227 billion. The current level of deposits in the US is comparable to the full cost of the government bailout of commercial banks or one fifth of Mexico's total foreign debt. Mexico accounts for 5.7% of total Latin American and Caribbean deposits in the US. (Reforma, 30 September) Corruption and Inefficiency in Mexico City Budget Mexico City's accounting office found "irregularities" in the public works budget of 1995 amounting to 28.3 million pesos (about $3.6 million). This represents 14% of the city's budget surplus that year (of 200 million pesos). The problems range from overpayment for services to inaccurate estimates of the cost of public works projects. In response, the accounting office announced that it would seek punishments - ranging from a public warning to criminal prosecution- for some 310 city workers. (Reforma, 29-30 September) Strikes and Wages Between January and August of this year, there were only 31 federal strikes held, which is 11.4% less than the number of strikes during the same period in 1996. Most of these strikes were over the signing of contracts, followed by salary revisions and contract negotiations. During the first eight months of 1997, the average (nominal) salary increase was 18.4%, while during the same period last year it was 19.5%. (Reforma, 29 September) Zedillo Calls for Continued Budget Austerity In a meeting with his Cabinet, President Zedillo called on the various Secretariats not to relax fiscal discipline in the preparation of the 1998 federal budget, which must be delivered to the Chamber of Deputies by November 15. He warned that a relaxation of expenditures would have "extremely grave consequences for the country." The overall objectives of economic policy for next year, he noted, are: economic growth of at least 5%, a reduction of inflation, financial stability and a healthy balance of payments. (La Jornada, 30 September) Oil Reserves Plummet The proven reserves of the country's largest oil deposit in Cantarell in the Gulf of Mexico were revised, and are now 26% less than previously announced by PEMEX in February. This has important implications for the country's overall oil reserves, since Cantarell currently accounts for 40% of total crude production. (El Financiero, 29 September). MEXPAZ An electronic bulletin collectively produced by: CRT: Centro de Reflexio'n Teolo'gica; SIPRO: Servicios de informacion procesada, A.C.; FC: Fronteras Comunes; CENCOS:Centro de comunicacion social, A.C.; CONPAZ:Coordinacion de organismos no-gubernamentales por la paz; PRODH: Centro de Derechos Humanos, Miguel Agustin Pro; CEE: Centro de Estudios Ecume'nicos; CAM: Centro Antonio de Montesinos; CONAI: Comision nacional de intermediacion; EP: Equipo Pueblo. ================================================================= 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-10.08.97-18:24:11-21766