[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 116 (Wednesday, August 17, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 17, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                              MEXICO RAID

  (Ms. KAPTUR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, last year when this House voted on NAFTA, 
we were told trade world bring democracy in Mexico's one-party State. 
So, we are all watching very closely the Presidential elections that 
are to occur in Mexico this Sunday, August 21. Quite frankly, the news 
leading up to the election does not bode well for a fair and peaceful 
outcome. The Catholic News Service reported recently:

       Mexican Jesuits say a raid by heavily armed men on a recent 
     house run by the order near the Pacific resort of Acapulco 
     may have been in retaliation for the order's efforts to train 
     poll watchers for the upcoming August 21 elections. On July 
     15, ``six heavily armed men'' broke into the Jesuits' De 
     Colores retreat house in the town of Guerrero state, at 
     around 8 a.m., cutting electrical lines and ransacking the 
     premises. The assailants have been reported to be Guerrero 
     State and Judicial Police agents.

  Madam Speaker, free trade cannot benefit ordinary people without free 
elections. How this Congress could approve free trade without 
guarantees of free elections is beyond me.

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