MEXICO: FORMER PRESIDENT SALINAS PRESS CONFERENCE скачать в хорошем качестве

MEXICO: FORMER PRESIDENT SALINAS PRESS CONFERENCE

(13 Jun 1999) Spanish/Nat Former Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari has returned for the first time to the country he left in disgrace four years ago. Salinas is widely blamed for the crushing 1995 peso crisis and the devastating two-year recession in Mexico. The former leader, who will depart on Sunday, initially said he was not planning any public appearances in Mexico, where he is still regularly lampooned as a smirking thief by street performers. However, he did hold a news conference at his home for selected journalists which turned into an open press event when cameraman climbed the walls of the complex to shoot it. The circumstances of his return couldn't be more different from his departure from the presidency in December, 1994, after six years of market-oriented reforms and what many Mexicans point to as one of the most damaging administrations in Mexico's history. He left the country in 1995 to ultimately find himself blamed by many for the devaluation of the peso and a two-year recession critics say was caused by debts incurred his tenure. Upon his return, former Mexican President Carlos Salinas was back in Mexico for his son's graduation from a Mexico City university. Although he tried to avoid the media at the Saturday ceremony, Salinas invited selected journalists to his home afterwards for an impromptu news conference. But he couldn't avoid the television limelight when several cameraman scaled the walls of his home to capture the event. He referred to his brother, Raul Salinas, whose conviction on murder charges forever linked scandal to the family name. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) "In all the investigations in which I was asked to testify, I would've preferred to give me testimony here in Mexico. But I was asked in the place where I was living at that moment (in Ireland), which was the Mexican embassy. I spoke with my brother about personal affairs. It was an emotional conversation. It was brief." SUPER CAPTION: Carlos Salinas, former Mexican president Salinas' son, Carlos Emiliano Salinas Occelli, said his father's attendance at his graduation was a pleasant surprise. Salinas reportedly arrived on a flight late Friday from Ireland where he has been living in a self-imposed exile since leaving Mexico in March 1995. But he insisted he was still committed to the future well-being of his native country. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) "I am prepared, like any other citizen, to do whatever is asked of me for the betterment of the country." SUPER CAPTION: Carlos Salinas, former Mexican president Days after he left the presidency, the debts he had assumed during his 1988-1994 term forced the government to sharply devalue the peso, plunging the country into a two-year recession. Salinas has argued that his successor, Ernesto Zedillo, mismanaged the debt problems and caused the crisis. But on Saturday, he appeared to accept at least some blame for his contributions to the financial meltdown. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) "I assume my responsibility for that (the economic crisis). But there can be no political activity without ideology and there can be no ideology without clarity in what your demands are. That goes for political alliances, for political strategy. That is the history of politics." SUPER CAPTION: Carlos Salinas, former Mexican president Salinas took a largely low-profile approach to his return, given the hostile public sentiment still harboured by many Mexicans over his legacy. Raul Salinas is currently serving a 50-year prison sentence for masterminding the 1994 murder of a political rival. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...