Word: mexicans
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Mexico fracas could hardly have come at a worse time for the Mexican government, which already has a surfeit of problems. Burdened by a $96 billion foreign debt, the second largest in the Third World, after Brazil's, the De la Madrid government has just launched a third year of painful austerity measures. The International Monetary Fund is threatening to withhold $1.2 billion in credits from Mexico unless the country sets economic performance targets that are more to the IMF's liking. That possibility in turn could delay a complicated $48.5 billion refinancing of Mexico's debt by private, mainly...
...enduring one of its most serious political challenges in 56 years. The De la Madrid administration, which came to office in 1982 amid promises of "moral renovation," is facing a popular backlash, particularly in the north, where riots against alleged P.R.I. election fraud have sputtered for weeks. Increasingly, Mexican ire is directed at a P.R.I. legacy of corruption, graft and lawlessness that De la Madrid's new broom has been unable to sweep away. Says Wayne Cornelius, director of the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies at the University of California at San Diego: "This is the most important and crucial...
...against this background that the Camarena case created such a furor. The kidnaping of the Mexican-born, naturalized American agent, known as Kiki, seemed to bring out long-simmering resentments among U.S. officials about Mexican law enforcement in general. Above all, the officials were irate over the toughest of bilateral problems: the reach and political power of the crime barons who control Mexico's multibillion-dollar drug trade...
...private, U.S. officials complained that Mexico was not doing enough in the hunt for Camarena. From Washington, Attorney General William French Smith sent a cable of complaint to Mexican authorities, expressing "frustration and disappointment" at the pace of the investigation. Other messages flew back and forth between Ambassador Gavin and Mexican officials, including President de la Madrid. Said DEA Assistant Administrator Frank Monastero: "Some elements among the Mexican authorities have been very late in responding to leads we've developed, and if they have good reason, we don't know what...
Sensitive Mexican pride was severely bruised by the American accusations. Mexico City's earnestness in fighting the antidrug war seems beyond question: to date, police say, some 50 Mexican drug agents have been killed in battles against the traffickers. Says a high-ranking law enforcement official: "We are efficient in law enforcement, but we are not as efficient as the Americans. If we are held up to their standards, of course we are going to fall short...