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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 1985)
Wednesday, January 16, 1985/The Battalion/Page 13 Beef shortage continues withdrawal throughout Mexico City {© violence Associated Press MEXI(X) CITY — Most butcher shops in the metropolitan area were closed and little beef could be found anywhere Tuesday, the result of an ongoing dispute over meat prices. About 13,500 butcher shops in the area — 90 percent of the total — were on an eight-day strike that be gan, Monday, refusing to buy from wholesalers for more than the of fi cial price, equal to about 9b cents a pound, the government newspaper El Nacional said. Commerce Department agents closed some others for selling to con sumers at more than the official re tail price of SI.92 a pound. Major supermarkets offered chicken and pork, but no beef . When beef could be found, it was selling for up to S4.27 a pound. Ernesto Rodriguez Cabrera, a butcher’s union leader, said the union would confiscate meat from strikebreakers “who are selling horsemeat mixed with beef,” the newspaper Excelsior said. “Yesterday we warned that we would act to the point if they don’t back the strike, which is in favor of the consumers, in support of the of ficial regulations and in benefit of the butchers,” Rodriguez Cabrera was quoted as saving. Associated Press WASHINGTON — Federal Re serve Chairman Paul Volcker, giving a boost to efforts by Senate Republi cans to trim deficits, said a $50 bil lion reduction in red ink next year with “follow-through” in the future would probably lead to lower inter est rates. Volcker refused to speculate how big a drop in interest rates would fol low enactment of a large-scale defi cit-reduction plan, but said that sav ings of “$50 billion-plus in a convincing way is what you need to have an impact.” Shortages often precede price hikes in Mexico, and cattlemen and butchers accused intermediaries who sell cattle to slaughterhouses of withholding meat to force the gov ernment to raise prices. Juan Vazquez Marquez, assistant secretary for livestock of the Agri culture Department, blamed the shortage on speculation by butchers, cattlemen ana intermediaries. The agriculture officials said the country’s 30 million head of cattle were suf ficient to meet demand, but the Commerce Department was im- jorting 15,000 head of cattle to sta- jilize the market. Cattlemen in the west and north west criticized a government deci sion to halt exports of cattle sent to U.S. feedlots to help resolve the shortage. Carlos Cardenas Villar real, leader of the Livestock Union of Cooperative Farms in Saltillo, in the northeest, said farmers there have 35,000 head ready to ship but they are too low in weight for the do mestic market. Rodolfo Villasenor Vazuqez, pres ident of the Regional Cattlemen’s Union in Guadalajara, the second largest city, said more than 1,000 head of cattle are sent to the local slaughterhouses daily, but interme diaries only allowed 300 to be killed and ref used meat to butchers. Talking with reporters after a breakfast meeting with Republican senators, Volcker said his preference would be to accomplish the deficit reduction through spending cuts alone, a view shared by President Reagan and many Senate GOP lead ers. The nation’s central banker made his comments as Senate Republicans continued their efforts to draft a S >lan to cut deficits from roughly 5200 billion to $100 billion or less over the next three years. Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole, R-Kan., said he hopes to have Even at the official retail price, many cannot af ford meat. The fi nancial newspaper El Financiero said about half the economically ac tive population of the Mexico City area receives no more than the mini mum wage of $4.98 a day, which al lows meat consumption only occa sionally, if at all. It quoted Vazquez Marquez as say ing meat consumption had fallen 50 percent in the past three years be cause of its high price and because the majority of Mexicans can no longer afford to buy it regularly. Inflation that hit 100 percent in 1982, 80 percent in 1983 and 59 per cent last year has eaten away at the buying power of Mexicans, espe cially lower-income families. Meanwhile, the beef shortage was af fecting other meats. Chicken, which sold for 85 cents a pound last year, is up to $1.45 a pound, El Nacional said. The hog slaughter in the Mexico City area was down 50 percent in an ticipation of a drop in demand be cause so many butcher shops are closed, Carlos Lopez Reyes, presi dent of slaughterhouses in the area said. In a related development, milk producers are proposing a more than 30 percent increase. the plan complete by the time Rea gan submits his own budget early next month. The GOP whip, Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming, re peated that it would include cuts in the president’s defense buildup. Volcker traveled to the Senate as House GOP Leader Robert Michel of Illinois floated a possible compro mise that would safeguard the presi dent’s plans to deploy the MX mis sile in exchange for lower defense spending than Reagan would like. For his part, Volcker avoided mentioning any individual program cuts. Associated Press JERUSALEM — The withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon could provoke a wave of violence, said Israeli of ficials, who appealed to the United Nations and the Beirut government to move into vacated areas before fighting starts. “There is indeed a danger of mas sacres in Lebanon,” Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres said. The Israeli Cabinet approved a three-phase withdrawal plan Mon day that will begin in five weeks. Israeli troops have occupied southern Lebanon since the invasion of 1982 and Peres said Monday the last Israeli troops should leave Leb anon “bv the summer.” Some Israeli officials said withdra wal could also lead to a confronta tion with Damascus if Syrian forces in eastern Lebanon move into areas evacuated by Israel in the second stage of withdrawal. Israeli troops will leave the Medi terranean port city, Sidon, in the first stage of the pullback, and Israe lis said Shiite anti Sunni Moslem mi litias and Palestinians may fight for control there. Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin met U.N. Undersecretary General Brian Urquhart to outline the with drawal plan. He also urged that U.N. peacekeeping forces and the Lebanese army take control of areas Israel evacuates. Urquhart later flew to Beirut to explore the prospects for transferring authority in the south. The U.N. Security Council would have to approve any deployment of U.N. forces north of the Litani River. The Security Council can act only on request from Lebanon, and any decision would require approval from the Soviet Union, Syria’s main political and military backer. Beirut has rejected previous Is raeli proposals to expand the U.N. force’s role, saying that its own army should have sole authority and that the Israeli plan would split, the coun try. The first planned withdrawal from Lebanon's western sector was to be followed by a pullback on the eastern front f acing Syria. . 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