DATE=2/8/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=MEXICO - UNIVERSITY (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-258961
BYLINE=GREG FLAKUS
DATELINE=MEXICO CITY
CONTENT=
VOICED AT=
INTRO: In Mexico City, judicial officials have
released 579 of the 745 students who were detained
Sunday when federal police entered the campus of the
National Autonomous University of Mexico, known as
UNAM [oo-`nahm], to end a nine-month-long strike. As
V-O-A's Greg Flakus reports from Mexico City, the
leaders of the strike still face legal proceedings.
TEXT: Officials say the release of students who
faced no serious charges does not mean that there will
be an amnesty for all who were detained. Interior
Minister Diodoro Carrasco says this is now a question
of legal proceedings.
/// CARRASCO SPANISH ACT FADES UNDER ///
He says it is not a matter of goodwill, it is a matter
of enforcing the law and maintaining public order.
Mr. Carrasco says criminal charges are being prepared
against the leaders of the UNAM student strike
committee and others who stole or destroyed property
or engaged in acts of violence. The leaders currently
in prison include Alejandro Echevarria, known as "El
Mosh," Alberto Pacheco, known as "El Diablo," and
Mario Benitez, an economics professor, known as "El
Gato." They have said they will continue to fight for
their cause from within prison.
Meantime, strike sympathizers who are not in jail met
at another campus on Tuesday and stopped classes from
being held there. Some 800 students came together at
the Metropolitan Autonomous University to discuss the
UNAM situation and to call for the release of all who
were jailed. But further street marches and protests
have not materialized.
Strike leaders and their supporters among leftist
social groups have condemned the federal police
intervention at UNAM, but public opinion polls show
the majority of Mexicans approved of the action.
Federal police continue to occupy the campus while
university officials assess the damage done to
buildings and equipment during the strike. There is
still no word as to when the campus may reopen for
classes. (Signed).
NEB/gf/gm
08-Feb-2000 17:59 PM EDT (08-Feb-2000 2259 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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