Austerity and Peace

Mexican President Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado, 48, discussed his nation's role in promoting peace in Central America with 50 American business leaders and journalists traveling in the region on a TIME-sponsored news tour, and offered his views on how Mexico's pressing economic problems were being resolved. Excerpts:

On the growing Central American turmoil. For Mexico, the Central American and Caribbean areas represent a vital interest. We are greatly troubled by the events taking place in the area. We believe that if the community of nations of this region allows a war to break out in Central America, it would be very difficult to control. The basic problem of these countries lies in the underdeveloped economic and social state in which their populations suffer. We understand the revolutionary movements we have observed, because the prevailing regimes, notably in the case of Nicaragua, have been dictatorships using violence that reached deplorable extremes. For us, conservative dictatorships are the major manufacturers of domestic violence, revolutions and insurrections.

On regional efforts to find a peace plan. Mexico wishes to join in any attempt to bring about detente in Central America. We believe that sufficient elements exist to conduct dignified and effective negotiations that will satisfy the legitimate interests of the population. Now we have the advantage that other Latin American countries agree with this solution and this strategy, specifically Venezuela, Colombia and Panama. I honestly believe that participation by various Latin American governments may help to bring about the necessary negotiations.

On any military intervention in Central America. We reject the idea. Our position is a symmetrical one. We oppose intervention by the U.S. and by any other country. The solution for us is the suspension of all forms of military intervention by all parties. It seems to me that intelligent action may assure the nationalist character of the revolutionary movements of Central America. If we have peace in the region we can build economic and social development on the basis of the peace.

On the issue of Mexican immigration to the U.S. For Mexicans, the phenomenon is often painful. There are all kinds of human tragedies in this type of movement, often due to the situation that arises occasionally in the U.S. when labor laws are not fairly applied and human rights respected. We know that what we Mexicans must do is create more jobs in Mexico. Together with the U.S. we can find new formulas to solve our problems.

On Mexico's economic troubles. At the beginning of my term, Mexico was facing a very severe economic crisis. We had to combine the need for stringent, bitter and firm measures with the need to uphold our free democratic system. I believe we have stopped the sharp decline left over from 1982 and are now on a stable course, with some ups and downs. We cannot as yet say that we are victorious in our struggle and that the economic crisis is past history. But some positive elements are in sight. We have not during the past five months had massive bankruptcies and layoffs of workers. We have been able to reduce inflation gradually. We were also able to reach an agreement with our foreign creditor banks, which share with us a tendency to favor excessive indebtedness. I would be the first to wish that one morning I could wake to find that we have no problems. But that is not the way things are right now. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.