DATE=1/19/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=STRIKE REFERENDUM (L)
NUMBER=2-258231
BYLINE=GREG FLAKUS
DATELINE=MEXICO CITY
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: In Mexico, preparations are underway for a
referendum on the strike that has closed the the
National Autonomous University of Mexico, known as
UNAM [oo-nahm], since April. As V-O-A's Greg Flakus
reports from Mexico City, the ballot is simple and
straightforward.
TEXT:
/// SOUND FROM AD ///
Government-sponsored advertisements have been running
on Mexican radio and television this week, calling on
all students and university professors to participate
in Thursday's referendum. Authorities say they expect
about 120-thousand of UNAM's more than 260-thousand
students to cast a vote. UNAM Rector Juan Ramon de la
Fuente sees the event as the best opportunity in the
past nine months to put an end to the strike.
/// DE LA FUENTE ACT (SPANISH) FADES UNDER ///
He says this is, without a doubt, an exercise that is
very important in the life of the university. Mr. De
la Fuente says the school has suffered great damage as
a result of the strike and that it is time to resolve
the conflict. He says the referendum is-- in his
words-- "a democratic and intelligent method for doing
so.
The referendum seeks support for the proposal the
rector presented to the strikers earlier this month.
The referendum ballots contain only two questions.
The first-- Do you agree with the rector's proposal?
The second-- Do you think the strike should now end?
The UNAM strike began last April over a proposed
increase in tuition from a token amount equivalent to
about two U-S cents to about the equivalent of 140 U-S
dollars. That idea was dropped within weeks, but the
leftist radicals leading the strike then added more
demands.
Mr. De la Fuentes' proposal would meet one of the
strikers' major demands by creating a University
Congress through which students would control the
institution. But the strike council rejected even
this proposal and attempted to hold its own referendum
on Tuesday of this week. Strike leaders claim to have
set up one thousand polling stations around the city,
but local newspaper reporters counted less than half
that number. (Signed)
NEB/GF/TVM/gm
19-Jan-2000 18:18 PM EDT (19-Jan-2000 2318 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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