• by IPS Correspondents (mexico)
• Tuesday, November 22, 1994
• Inter Press Service

MEXICO, Nov 22 (IPS) - Mexican Assistant Attorney General Mario Ruiz Massieu charged the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) with harbouring criminals and accomplices to the murder of his brother, PRI Secretary General Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu.

The brother of the victim, who is in charge of the case, told PRI President Ignacio Pichada, and Maria de los Angeles Moreno - who replaced the assassinated leader as PRI Secretary General - that they would have to respond to the accusations.

He added that he had sufficient evidence to prove that the PRI ordered the execution of Ruiz Massieu on Sep. 28, saying that, "from here on, it is a matter of political decisions."

One week after the murder, Pichada and Moreno granted a leave of absence to Manuel Munoz Rocha, a Member of Parliament for PRI and the alleged intellectual author of the crime. Munoz Rocha went into hiding and has not yet been found.

Moreno denounced the accusations as "reckless, slanderous and lacking any basis in truth," explaining that leave of absence was granted without the usual three month parliamentary procedure so that Munoz Rocha could face the public prosecutor sooner.

She added that in addition to seeking political motives, the investigation should pursue other possible reasons for the crime.

In declarations to the press, Mario Ruiz Massieu stated that his brother's murder was "a political crime" perpetrated by "an internal government group" opposed to the moderate reforms being carried out in the Mexican political system.

PRI leaders refuted the accusations, attributing them to the grief Ruiz Massieu must be suffering, and adding that this is the only reason that he has not yet been expelled from the party.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

Where next?

Advertisement