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WorldView

Student Strike Stopped in Mexico

Aired February 6, 2000 - 8:11 p.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: The longtime student strike at a large university in Mexico City came to a peaceful end on Sunday. The government said it had simply run out of options for resolving the standoff, and ordered police to round up the students.

CNN's Mexico City bureau chief Harris Whitbeck has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a scene that many had dreaded, others had hoped for. Early on Sunday, hundreds of federal police took control of the main campus of Mexico's National Autonomous University that had been in the hands of striking students since April of last year.

The government said it ordered the occupation of the university after nearly 10 months of negotiations had failed.

DIODORO CARRASCO, SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, MEXICO (through translator): The limits of reason have been reached. Interests from outside the university had put the security and autonomy of the university community at risk.

WHITBECK: In the last few weeks, student protests had become increasingly violent, attempts at dialogue had fizzled, and Mexican public opinion had seemed to favor the idea of the strikers backing down and returning control of the campus to the authorities.

The students had originally demanded that authorities drop plans to raise tuition at the public university. When that occurred, they issued new demands of greater student participation in the administration of the school.

After a final attempt at dialogue last Friday failed, the government decided to move in. About 500 students were detained. Their parents say they feel betrayed by the government.

"Instead of giving Mexico education, they are oppressing the country and forcing it into a revolution," says this man whose daughter is among the hundreds of detainees.

Hundreds of people protested on the streets of Mexico City showing support for the student movement.

University Chancellor Juan Ramon de la Fuente took a conciliatory tone, as he asked the authorities to release the detained students.

(on-camera): But the future of Latin America's largest public university is still uncertain. Nobody knows for sure how much it will cost to repair the damages on the campus, nor how to ease the frictions in a divided university community.

Harris Whitbeck, CNN, Mexico City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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