From: ez000281@othello.ucdavis.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.latin-america
Subject: News from Mexico
Date: 7 Dec 92 16:45:03 GMT
Organization: Computing Services, UC Davis

I'm reposting some news a friend sent in recent days

Edelmiro
------

EL PASO TIMES - December 4, 1992


                        STARVATION KILLS
                       50,000 KIDS A YEAR

     MEXICO CITY--Some 50,000 Mexican children under age 5 die of
starvation every year, a researcher told a conference on health and
nutrition in the Mexican capital.

     But the expert, Abelardo Alba, said the death rate for the
youngsters is still higher in nations at a similar stage of
development, such as Costa Rica and Chile.

     Alba said in comments reported by the English-language
newspaper THE NEWS that the country has the resources to solve the
hunger problem, but that it lacks the political will.

     He is a researcher at the Metropolitan Autonomous University
in Mexico City, where the conference was held.

                         --Times wire reports.


*************************

BUSINESS WEEK/December 7, 1992 - "International Outlook"

                   MEXICO:  SUDDENLY, SALINAS
                  IS LOOKING A LITTLE DEFENSIVE

     At a recent cocktail party in Mexico City, a new arrival from
Brazil remarked to President Carlos Salinas de Gortari that Mexico
seems a lot more stable tose
corrupt President has just been impeached.  Salinas rolled his eyes
heavenward, crossed his fingers, and quipped "Ojala'" -- "God
willing."

     After sailing through his first four years in office, Salinas
is finally starting to run into some flak--just as he starts
looking for a successor to continue his economic reforms.  A mid-
November election in the border state of Tamaulipas erupted in
violent protests against alleged vote fraud.  At the same time, the
hot Mexican economy that has given Salinas license to ram through
his reform program is starting to cool off.

SHARPER EYES.  The 44-year-old Mexican leader was also stung by the
defeat of his friend George Bush.  Bush gave Salinas a virtual free
ride by ignoring Mexico's internal affairs.  True, President-elect
Bill Clinton has conditionally endorsed the North American Free
Trade Agreement that Salinas negotiated with Bush.  Buy push Salinas to reform Mexico's
authoritarian political and labor practices and clean up its
environment--if he wants to get NAFTA through the U. S. Congress.
"The government is becoming vulnerable to criticism and pressure at
home and abroad," says Sergio Aguayo, a political scientist.

     Increasing scrutiny from up north has energized Mexico's
grass-roots democratic movement, whose protests have forced Salinas
to remove four provincial governors belonging to his Institutional
Revolutionary Party (PRI) in the last two years.  The opposition is
expected to turn up the heat in five fiercely contested
gubernatorial elections next year.

     The usually supremely confident Salinas is already looking a
trifle defensive.  He recently bowed to opposition demands by
pledging to work toward limiting campaign expenditures and
balancing media coverage of candidates.  He also made a big deal of
having his picture taken for the new voter registration cards aimed
at thwarting repeat balloting.  But he took the gloves off when he
chucked 17 opposition leaders in jail on charges of inciting the
election violence.

     The heightened political tension might make it difficult for
him to continue the fiscal austerity aimed at cutting the
ballooning trade deficit and bringing down inflation--now running
at 12 peady dipped from 3.6 percent
in 1991 to 2.7 percent this year.  "1993 isn't going to be an easy
year," observes Jonathan Heath, a leading Mexican economic analyst.

     What occurs in the next few months will undoubtedly influence
Salinas' thinking about his choice for the PRI's presidential
candidate at the end of next year.  If things go badly in Mexico or
on NAFTA, he may feel pressure from PRI heavies not to pick another
economic reformer such as Finance Secretary Pedro Aspe.  Salinas
might have to opt instead for a party insider such as Luis Donaldo
Colosio, secretary of social development, or Manuel Camacho Soli's,
mayor of Mexico City.

     While such a choice would probably make foreign investors
nervous, it's not likely that Mexico can escape such growing pains.
Following the model of Taiwan and South Korea, it put political
reform on hold while it revolutionized its economy.  Now those
ips with democracy.  Mexico can't
be too far behind.

                         --By Geri Smith in Mexico City