Mexican Opposition Senator Wounded


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Mexican Opposition Senator Wounded 

Monday, May 10, 1999; 1:27 p.m. EDT

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- An opposition party senator was shot in the leg and
two men with him were also wounded in a clash with supporters of Mexico's
governing party in southern Oaxaca state, news reports said Monday.

Hector Sanchez of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party was heading to a
rally Sunday in Chalcatongo, about 70 miles west of the state capital of
Oaxaca city, when he clashed with members of the Institutional
Revolutionary Party, or PRI. 

The Attorney General's office of the PRI-governed state quoted the PRI
protesters as saying Sanchez provoked the attack by pulling a gun and
firing into the air to disperse the crowd.  He denied that claim. 

Sanchez was shot in the leg. His adviser, Oscar Cruz Sanchez, was shot in
the neck and photographer Isaac Valdez was shot in the head. All three
were hospitalized, the latter two in serious condition.

Sanchez blamed local PRI leaders for the clash and said state officials
had removed his bodyguards four months ago. He demanded that the federal
Attorney General's office investigate the shootings.

Democratic Revolution won the local election in Chalcatongo in August, but
local PRI members have demanded their ouster, arguing that the opposition
party has failed to carry out any new programs, according to the newspaper
Cronica.

(c) Copyright 1999 The Associated Press
 
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