DATE=1/20/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=STRIKE REFERENDUM (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-258273
BYLINE=GREG FLAKUS
DATELINE=MEXICO CITY
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: In Mexico, thousands of people are voting in a
referendum on the strike that has closed the National
Autonomous University of Mexico, known as UNAM [oo-
nahm], since April. As V-O-A's Greg Flakus reports
from Mexico City, authorities hope a positive vote
will bring the nine-month-old conflict to an end, but
radical student leaders show no sign of giving in.
TEXT: University officials, faculty members and
students went to polling places all across Mexico City
and in some other parts of the country as well on
Thursday. They are providing their responses to two
questions on the referendum ballot. One asks if those
casting votes support the latest official proposal to
end the strike, and the other asks if they think the
strike should now end.
One of the first to appear at a polling station was
UNAM Rector Juan Ramon de la Fuente.
/// DE LA FUENTE ACT (SPANISH) ///
He said that he hoped for a big turn out from the
university community to support his proposal so that
the conflict could be resolved and the first steps
could be taken to reform the university.
The proposal Mr. de la Fuente put forth earlier this
month meets almost every demand of the striking
students, including the demand that a special
university congress be created to set the future
direction of the institution.
But strike leaders rejected the proposal anyway,
because not all demands were met. As the months have
passed, more moderate members of the strike committee
have either abandoned the cause or been expelled. The
strike council is now totally under the control of a
hardcore Marxist group known as the "ultras." Their
stated agenda goes well beyond university issues.
Last month, they staged a violent protest against free
trade and economic globalization in front of the U-S
embassy that resulted in several injuries, thousands
of dollars in property damage and 98 arrests.
One medical student who voted in the referendum said
she hopes the now tarnished image of the university
can be restored.
/// WOMAN STUDENT (SPANISH) ///
She said the strike has damaged what had been one of
the best medical schools in the Americas and that she
hopes she and other students can now restore some of
the prestige that has been lost.
/// OPT //
A good percentage of the more than 260 thousand UNAM
students registered for classes last year in spite of
the strike and attended classes in various off-campus
locations in defiance of the militants. "Ultra" mobs
tried to disrupt some of the classes, but were unable
to stop most of them.
The city government, controlled by the leftist Party
of the Democratic Revolution, at first gave tacit
approval to the strike. City police were ordered not
to intervene even when strikers attacked other
students in areas far from the UNAM campus. But in
more recent weeks the ultras have lost support from
more traditional leftist sectors.
/// END OPT ///
The strikers attempted to carry out their own
referendum on Tuesday and Wednesday, but even by their
own count, they received only about 150 thousand
votes, far short of the two million they had said they
would seek. (Signed).
Neb/gf/gm
20-Jan-2000 19:05 PM EDT (21-Jan-2000 0005 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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