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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1988)
Thursday, September 1, 1988/The Battalion/Page 13 President Madrid to deliver final message MEXICO CITY (AP) — President Miguel de la Madrid goes before his countrymen today to deliver a final state or the nation message on a term beset by economic problems he man aged to control while presiding over important political changes. When de la Madrid came to power on Dec. 1, 1982, this nation was nearly bankrupt following a col lapse in oil prices. Inflation was ram pant and the peso was plunging in value. De la Madrid feels his “biggest ac complishment was keeping the country from going bankrupt while maintaining the social order,” said a close advisor who demanded ano nymity. “His frustration was not be ing able to do the things he would have liked because of the economic limitations.” De la Madrid, a Harvard-trained economist, renegotiated a foreign debt that now stands at $104 billion while resisting pressure for a mora torium on payments. His adminis tration took steps to reduce the role of the state in the economy, al though many large industries, such as petroleum and banking, remain nationalized. Some of the steps were painful, and the peso plunge cost Mexican consumers about 50 percent of their buying power during de la Madrid’s six-year term. But it was de la Madrid’s efforts to reform a corrupt political system that produced Mexico’s most demo cratic summer since the ruling Insti tutional Revolutionary Party gained power in 1929. One hundred seats to be divided in proportion to the national vote were added to the lower house of the legislature, giving the opposition an opportunity to win a larger role. Op position candidates were permitted to win local elections, especially in the north The PRI itself instituted primaries on the municipal level, although a disagreement about presidential pri maries was one factor in a split that helped the left-wing opposition, which grouped itself as the Demo cratic Front. The result was a July 6 presi dential election in which the opposi tion won nearly 50 per cent of the popular vote and a forceful voice in Congress. However, the election was marred as the opposition claimed that the PRI maintained its grip on power only through massive fraud. A long wrangle in the Chamber of Deputies ended with the PRI taking 260 seats and a divided opposition 240 — 139 for the leftist Front and 101 for the rightist National Action Party. The left also won four of 64 seats in the Senate — the first time the PRI has ever lost Senate seats. De la Madrid downplayed Mexi co’s high profile role in Central America, avoiding open friction with the United States over conflicts in Nicaragua and El Salvador while working for regional solutions. He had a good working relationship with President Reagan, and argued that Mexico could not be solely responsible for stopping drug trafficking. De la Madrid said the drug problem starts at the consumer level in the United States. De la Madrid prepared the way economically for his chosen succes sor, Carlos Salinas de Gortari, who was largely responsible for the re gime’s economic measures as de la Madrid’s Planning and Budget se- cretgary. In addition to loosening tight state control of the economy, de la Ma drid brought Mexico into the Gen eral Agreement in Trade and Tar iffs (GATT) to force Mexican industralists to compete abroad and domestically. When inflation hit nearly 150 per cent in 1987, de la Madrid united government and private business in a belt-tightening economic solidarity pact that helped reduce inflation to 43 per cent in the first six months of 1988. Government figures for Au gust show a rate of below 1 percent. De la Madrid has suffered harsh criticism from both left and right. Leftist presidential candidate Cuauhtemoc Cardenas called for a moratorium on debt payments, say ing that they are hobbling economic development. The National Action Party wants economic privatization to go farther, faster. The political reforms changed the political structure of this country and shook the PRI. Salinas, who won with the lowest percentage ever for a PRI presidential candidate, said af ter the election that “the era of the one-party rule is over.” Referring to the drop in popular support, de la Madrid admitted Tuesday to a group of labor leaders that the party had made mistakes. But he added, “There is no threat to the system. We will regroup, will will fight more strongly. We are strongly enough to keep reactiona ries from the left or the right to take power away from the Mexicn Revo lution.” Protestant denominations celebrate after 40 years NEW YORK (AP) — “We intend to stay together.’ So declared representatives of 147 mostly North American and West Euro pean Protestant denominations 40 years ag °\ Christ has made us his own, and he is not divided, said that 1948 founding as sembly of the World Council of Churches in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. “In seek ing him we find one another.” Their pact has grown to include 307 de nominations of virtually all Christian tradi tions of every race and continenttotaling more than 400 million members. Its formation amid the ruins of World War II raised a worldwide landmark in the cause of Christian unity. “It is the great new fact of our time,” said the late Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple. That mid-century coming together of Christians signalled a reversal of more than 400 years of church fragmentation, antago nism and rivalry in the West and 1,000 years of uncommunicative separation from churches of the East. Results have “overcome centuries of in difference and even hatred among Chris tians,” affirming that “we are one people,” says the Rev. Emilio Castro, council general secretary. Now actively allied, they jointly probe their differences, dissolving mutual miscon ceptions and prejudices, contributing to one another’s insights, working in part nership on many fronts. Marking the council’s birthday, old- timers and newcomers to the cause gath ered Aug. 20-21 in Amsterdam, site of the founding asembly, to recall that pivotal event and eye its future. “ I he conviction that unity is real, and di vision unreal, steadily grows... over the 40 years,” says the Rev. John Deschner, mod- eia }°. r cou ncil’s doctrinal commission on faith and order. Deschner, a United Methodist theologian of Dallas, says that “beneath the dis- agreements we find an agreement in a unity which drew us together and will not let us separate.” .Co ■£o cr & 3 £ 3 5 <£ .? £7 T O S' £ P cr & & * ' 00 ^ o -? T 3 ^ £ cP > 71 V °Q . ta ff\ed o«' ^. v.u. S aroe +r E C- Him r T f7f FfiTT? 5 * H17? m * M ‘ H ” V11 r TT ' rf MSC OPEN HOUSE ? <2J<T*£> ir <> ' > 'V/O- <4^ VT Q /V V° Over 135 student organizations, student services, and academic colleges will be answering questions and • giving out information and how you can make this semester one to remember! Visit the MSC Council Table during Open House and enter to win two tickets to the A&M - t.u. game!!!! Sunday - September 4, 1988 4 p.m. - 8 p.m. Memorial Student Center ^Tr t ,r 11 f Ij-H 1 j-jj i 1 f I til t.t i ,11 fj- ,t rJsj-sjJJ ■MSC ^ . ,, Hat tojrt-