PRI may expel Salinas

MEXICO CITY - President Ernesto Zedillo's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) will meet this week to reconsider a proposal…

MEXICO CITY - President Ernesto Zedillo's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) will meet this week to reconsider a proposal to expel the former president, Mr Carlos Salinas de Gortari, from the party, a top PRI official said yesterday.

Mr Salinas, at present resident in Ireland, won huge acclaim during his 1988-94 presidency but fell into disgrace afterwards as the economy collapsed, the peso plummeted and accusations of corruption mounted.

Following demands from PRI militants, the party decided in January 1996 to expel Carlos's brother Raul - imprisoned since 1995 on murder and illicit enrichment charges - but did not decide the ex-president's fate.