Catholic World News News Feature

No Going Back On Road To Democracy, Mexican Bishops Say September 11, 1997

MEXICO CITY (CWN) - Bishop Gilberto Valbuena Sanchez of Colima, spokesman for the Mexican Bishops' Conference, said that politicians and the government in Mexico "must get used to the fact that democracy has no turning back," after the first free elections held two months ago.

Bishop Valbuena made his statements just days after President Ernesto Zedillo gave the first State of the Union address before a Congress not controlled by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). PRI representatives reacted aggressively after several members of the opposition disclosed their open criticism of Zedillo's speech. "Criticism is part of a democratic system and all of us Mexicans, but especially politicians, must get used to an open exchange, because democracy is in a one-way street in our history," the bishop said.

But, despite the growth of democracy, Bishop Valbuena said, "There is still much work to be done by all of us, especially in the field of values. Too much concern has been given to economic issues and very little to the ethics that must flow beneath a true democracy." He concluded, "We have to realize that a sound economy and a wealthy nation is at the same time a fair one if values are placed first."