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Show The Salt Lake Tribune NATION/WORLD AS © Saturday, March 10, 2001 Obstacles to Making Changes in Mexico Are Mounting appeal and held the nation together. But many Mexi- cans eventually concluded the PRI was serving itself, notthe country.It was seen as the cause of, notthe solution. for, Mexico’s deep-seated inequality and corruption. KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSSERVICE, MEXICO CITY — He's wildly popular and has awakened new hope among Mexicans. But 100 days into Vicente Fox Quesada’ssix-year term as president, he is looking more and more like a man of great promise who maybe ableto deliver only a small part of his ambitious agenda for transforming Mexico. Justthe fact of taking office on Dec. 1 marked an enormous and historic achievementfor Fox,thefirst presidentin 71 years to break the monopoly on power ofthe Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). The PRI brought modern governmentto Mexico and usually had centerto left-leaning ideology that gave it broad Fox promised to fix all that. He wonelection last July with just 42 percentof the vote. But since then, his approval rating has surged to about85 percent, as a weary public has grown excited abouthis promises to spur economic growth, create 1.3 million newjobs a year, reduce corruption andstreet crime, curb drug trafficking and improve education. Mexico hasn’t seen such public optimism since the 1970s oil boom. Butas the first 100 days come to a close, Fox has little to Show for his many promises of quick action. Instead, the obstacles to change are mounting. “He’s trying to modify a political culture, and that’s months,” said RaymondoRiva Palacio, editor of the tiny band of rebels a national stage for a political movementthat was all but dead and risking a Zap- Mexico City daily newspaper and weekly magazine atista hijack of his agenda. important, but he wants to do his six-year term in six Milenio. “He has a concept, but his horse isn’t there.”iu] Said economist Rogelio Ramirez de la O, “The Fox. people have been explaining their program in great which was lacking during the campaign and transition,but there are still no concrete results.” Oneof thefirst real tests for Fox comes Sunday, when the small Zapatista Army for National Liberation arrives in Mexico City for a huge rally followinga highly publicized 15-day tour through the country to generate support for their cause. The Zapatistas come from the impoverished state ofChiapas and are calling for autonomy and improved rights for Mexico’s native Indian population. Many observers worry that Fox has completely mishandled the Zapatistas, inadvertently handing the Investigators Question Whether Sub Rushed Surfacing ‘THE ASSOCIATED PRESS PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii — Navy admirals questioned a submarine expert Friday about whether the commander of the USS Greeneville gave his crew enough time to ensure it was safe to surface before the sub struck and sank a Japanesefishingboat. Navy Capt. ThomasKyle said a longer sonar search before the submarine’s rise to periscope depth would have prevented errors thatled to the sinking ofthe Ehime Maru onFeb. 9. Nine menand boys were killed in the collision. “Time would have helped tremendously,” said Kyle, who assisted the National Transportation Safety Board in its investigation. sub’s fire control technician. A Navy investigator testified the “A little bit more time . . . would have madeit clear as could be”that the Ehime Maru was within 1% miles of the submarinebefore the collision. Kyle is the second naval officer to testify at a court of inquiry that could lead to courts-martial of the submarine’s captain, Cmdr. Scott Waddle; the executive officer, Lt. ting sonar contacts and did not notify Waddle abouta nearbycontact because he wasdistracted by 16 civilians who were crammed into the control room. The investigator, Rear Adm. Charles Griffiths Jr., said Thursday that the collision probably wouldn’t have occurred had Waddie been notified of the sonar contact. But Rear Adm. Paul Sullivan, one of three admirals overseeing technician stopped manuallyplot- Cmdr. Gerald Pfeifer; and the officer of the deck, Lt. j.g. Michael Coen. Theinquiry,in its fifth day, has focused in part on therole of the the court, asked Kyle on Friday whether more time would have ofletting the movement’s support continue to — Fox made a showof promising to make peace. He speaks passionately about iapxoving the lot of the nation’s 10-percentIndian minority,the poorest of Mexico's poor,and sent Congress bill to move toward codifying new indigenous rights in the constitution. Economist Ramirez says that businessmen worry that the Zapatista tour — “Zapatour” as news media have dubbed it — might simply spreadsocial problems through the country, and that Fox could make what he 2 After 3 months in office, Fox has little to show for promises made in campaign called an expensive“ad hoc”deal for peace. Fox also has yet to inspire confidence in his handling of the economy, where sagging oil prices and sluggish exports to the United States are also working against him. PAIN OF eRDIES) allowed the submarine’s sonar operators to gather better information on the contact now known to have been the Ehime Maru. Griffiths has said the Greeneville devoted about six minutes to two “legs”ofa sonar searchbefore it rose to periscope depth,then descended to 400 feet to begin a rapid-surfacing drill. He said standardscall for about 10 minutes to be devoted to the search. Sullivan, Rear Adm. David Stone and Vice Adm. John Nathman will forward recommendations about possible disciplinary action to Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Fargowill takefinal action. Japan’s Finance Minister Backpedals From Warning of Economic Collapse following his dire warning before Parliament, that Japan will face a hard time reforming its fiscal situation.” His apology andclarification came one day after currency traders aggressively sold the yen Court Upholds Dismissal of Lawsuit Against LDS Church @ Continued from A-1 by thefive justices — all of whom are Mormon — means the LDS where hesaid that “Japan’s public finances are very near collapsing” and urged “fundamental ainin New York andfinished the fiscal restructuring.” Miyazawatried to take a more positive approach Friday, emphasizing the condition of the economy as a whole,rather than focusing on the debt problem alone. “The overall economy remainson a recovery ; track though the pace is very slow,” he told Parliament's upper house. public debt stands at more than $5.4trillion, Thursday’s remarks by the respected Miyazawa, a former prime minister, had sent the dollar shooting above 120 yen on worries ighs. Meanwhile, the benchmark NikStotk ‘Average has been hovering near 15- equivalent to 130 percent of gross domesti¢ product — the worst debt-to-GDP ratio in the industrialized world. The events at the heart of the Franco case allegedly occurred in 1986, when the girl was 7 years old. Franco claims she was sexually much time had passed to pursue assaulted by Jason Strong, a 14year-old neighbor boy and fellow Strong’s LDS ward member. The abuse was “so extreme” that Franco repressed the memory for eight years, the justices wrote. Bythe time Francoreported the abuse, Strong was preparing to serve a church mission. Montgomery claims church charges. Instead, Franco sued the LDS Church, Casaday, Christensen and parents, Browning and as his well as closed doors. young male memberofthe priesthood at the girl’s expense. “They sexually abused. “But she’s worked very hard used my clientto help them protect and she’s well adjusted,” he said. “Going through this process and state doing what it will, without the very person who molested her,” Montgomery said. any governmentregulation atall, and without any redress being nis Casaday, and stake president available.” Montgomery said his clients are considering an appeal to the U.S. SupremeCourt. Salt Lake City attorney Brian Barnard, whose attempt to sue for clergy malpractice in an unrelated case was rejected by the Utah Court of Appeals in 1990, said the ruling has dramatic implications in a state dominated by the LDS Church andits lay clergy. “There are an awful lot of people put into ecclesiastical leadership positions in Utah whorely on divine guidance, as opposed to training and Franco claims her bishop, DenDavid Christensen counseled her to “forgive, forget and seek atonement.” Later, the two clergymen referred the girl to a purportedly qualified counselor at a Bountiful mental health center, who, it turned out, was notlicensed to bringing awareness, standing up for herself and doing what's right, has been good for her.” In the years since Franco alleg- edly was abused, Utah enacted a law that requires anyone- with knowledgeof child abuse,child sex abuse, neglect, fetal alcohol syn- dromeorfetal drug dependance to report it to police or child-welfare empt from reporting unless the sole sourceof their information is girl to forgive her attacker and forget the incident, rather than inform police,the girl claims. the perpetrator. It is unclear how Friday’s ruling mayaffect the mandatory reportingstatute. Franco’s parents finally took the girl to another counselor, who reported the sexual abuse to police. ing for people,” Barnardsaid. Investigators, however, said too TWO VACUUMS ONE LOW PRICE “N PRReelastsmse) CRU Rc Simply Amazing™ SDM > acs) 4 GREAT UTAH LOCATIONS ‘“~" WE SERVICE ALL etch BRANDS TAYLORSVILLE MIDVALE ¢ S.L.C 5730 S. Redwood Rd. 860 E. Ft. Union Blvd. LP 352-7338 LAYTO! 757 W. eh la Ee))) OREM EYEE Uedaa aA UistLey) Tribune correspondent Elizabeth Neff contributed to this report. PICTURE THE POSSIBILITIES! Buy MORE SAVE More We'll Measure Your Windowsfor FREE $350 minimum purchase, Must pay for the measure at time of measure. 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Demonstrators protested Israel's closing a main West Bank road near Ramallah. The action wasto deter drive-by shootingsofIsraeli settlers. lows, closingat 12,627.90 points Friday. {State Place Shopping Center) (801) 264-1850 3DAYBLINDS. testerDougjes (>Cornfortes] WAVERLY. 2 Day Wl eee esol diel bent oer ne a Vornshorn* ond Utena” more bruh shew Mage” vertical bleh, Samply Ser” rarer” ‘wood arches «wood ipecty thapen Menasing Inibeon ond Shop ot Home services evudable so med arn) Day Bh Ire 700) ere pur te THE ASSOCIATED PRESS TOKYO — Japan’s finance minister distanced himself Friday from comments that the nation wason the verge offiscal collapse, saying he had only meant to highlight the difficulties the country faces. “T apologize for my inappropriate choice of. words to describe current fiscal conditions,” Kiichi Miyazawatold reporters.“I meant to say |
