Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0241/02417.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 25KB | 457 lines

$Unique_ID{COW02417}
$Pretitle{279}
$Title{Mexico
The Solidarity Efforts}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Embassy of Mexico, Washington DC}
$Affiliation{Embassy of Mexico, Washington DC}
$Subject{mexico
mexican
national
party
drug
drug-trafficking
areas
government
public
efforts}
$Date{1990}
$Log{}
Country:     Mexico
Book:        Mexican Agenda
Author:      Embassy of Mexico, Washington DC
Affiliation: Embassy of Mexico, Washington DC
Date:        1990

The Solidarity Efforts

     In his Inaugural Address, President Salinas de Gortari stated his
commitment to address the most urgent social needs without waiting for the
economic transition period to end. With that responsibility in mind, the
National Solidarity Program (known as Pronasol), began in March 1989 as the
joint effort between the government and those Mexicans living in both the
poorest rural areas and popular neighborhoods in the cities, to create or
improve the most basic services and means of well-being. In order to keep a
strict discipline in public finances, the Pronasol program does not imply
money printing by the Bank of Mexico, on the contrary, these actions are
financed by the privatization of public enterprises and by some of the
resources freed by the debt renegotiation process.

     Pronasol actions are related to health, education, nutrition, foodstuffs
distribution, urban or basic services and educational projects. These efforts
have been concentrated in Indian communities in the least developed states
and the slums of major cities. During 1990 the following public works and
social infrastructure will be built.

     In the health sector, 40 hospitals and health centers will be constructed
or rehabilitated in urban areas and 528 medical units will be installed in
rural areas. These actions will give health service to an additional 3 million
Mexicans.

     "Economic growth is an indispensable but insufficient condition for
upgrading Mexicans' standard of living. We intend to make headway in meeting
the people's demands for social well-being in all its aspects."

     In the education sphere, the construction and expansion of 5,000 schools,
3,000 attached facilities, 220 laboratories and 250 workshops in the
elementary and secondary levels, will be continued, giving priority to those
states who need them most. Besides, through the Solidarity Program for a
Dignified School and with the support and advice of parents, teachers and
municipal authorities, the improvement and maintenance of 28,000 education
spaces for elementary level and 6,000 for secondary level, will take place
with a budget of 180 billion pesos.

     In order to meet the demand for potable water and sewage systems in
urban areas and in rural communities, the water network will be introduced or
expanded in 764 neighborhoods, sewage systems will be built in another 582
and both services will be constructed in 358 rural communities. Furthermore,
21 priority projects will be continued, like the Tijuana and Monterrey
aqueducts, the potable water and sewage systems in Mexico City and in the
Valley of Chalco (a depressed urban conglomerate outside the capital), and
the construction of four large water treatment plants.

     To enhance the distribution of basic foodstuffs where private commercial
activity alone does not satisfy demand, more than 2,600 shops, warehouses and
popular dinning rooms will be established in the neediest rural and urban
areas, in order to assure the distribution of food at comparatively low
prices. Also, in order to increase the production and distribution of milk,
4 large rehydration plants will be put into operation and the construction
of 3 more will begin.

     Given the disorderly growth of urban areas in the past, the normalization
of land property rights will be continued, thus providing security to low
income urban dwellers. In 1990, 327,000 plots will receive legal status,
benefitting an equal number of families, mainly in the City of Mexico, the
Chalco Valley, the metropolitan areas of Guadalajara, Acapulco, Reynosa,
Ciudad del Carmen, Celaya, Gomez Palacio, and Ciudad Juarez, among other
cities.

     In relation with public electricity works, 4,253 rural communities will
be connected into the national power grid, as will also happen to 1,448
popular neighborhoods around the country. More than 2,700,000 inhabitants
will thus have this basic service by the end of the year.

     To enhance the full economic incorporation of remote regions, the highway
system will be expanded, overhauled and modernized with special emphasis in
the most critical areas. Outstanding are the rural road systems in Baja
California and in Oaxaca; and the highway systems in Michoacan and Zacatecas.
With these actions, more than 2,000 communities will be linked with the
national road system.

     Phone services and more than 64,000 public phone booths will be made
available in many popular neighborhoods. The telephone service will also be
introduced in 8 small towns each day, reaching an annual total of 2,889. On
the other hand, 1,300 post offices will be installed in popular neighborhoods
and 3,220 in rural communities.

     In order to support reforestation and environmental restoration,
agreements with campesino organizations will be made, so as to profit from
the existing ecological reserves and production areas and promote the creation
of new ones.

     To aid the development of regions with low productivity and depressed
social and economic conditions, more than 420 billion pesos have been targeted
to create Solidarity Funds for production. These funds are given to support
productive and social development projects, defined in terms of each
community's needs. These will be mainly applied to the Indian communities in
the least developed areas around the nation.

     To foster training and employment opportunities for the young and the
neediest groups, the Solidarity Program for Job Opportunities has been
implemented, and will count with the support of different government agencies.

     Pronasol will also support feasible alternatives to improve the living
standards of farmers who face difficult climate and soil conditions, for
example, through the introduction of higher yield crops and aquaculture
projects.

     "Today, the National Solidarity Program, which was launched to combat
extreme poverty, unites the efforts of all Mexicans in attaining the justice
to which we aspire for all our fellow countrymen."

ELECTORAL REFORM

     During his Inaugural address, President Salinas called for a public
discussion regarding possible reforms to the electoral code. On January 1989,
the Chamber of Deputies began public hearings for that purpose, which took
place between February and April, 1989. The agenda included political rights,
national representation, access to mass media, National Electoral Registry and
political representation in the Federal District. Several majority agreements
were reached:

     1. - The creation of a new public-nature body in charge of the electoral
process, endowed with authority and made up with its own independent
officials.

     2. - The Electoral Contentious Court will continue operating as before,
only that now it may function either in general assembly or in regional
tribunals, resolving without appeal in a single instance and through public
hearings. It will be integrated with magistrates (as up to date) and with
instructor judges (innovation).

     3. - The Legislative branch will suffer no change in its
integration --300 relative majority deputies and 200 of proportional
representation. However, proportional representation deputies will be assigned
to those political parties which contend with at least 200 relative majority
candidates in the same number of electoral districts and obtain no less than
1.5% of the national ballot. No political party will be able to hold more than
350 seats, under any circumstances, although the party who obtains the largest
number of entries and 35% of the national vote will be