As most of you already know, Riordan Roett, the Director
of Latin American Studies at the School for Advanced
International Studies at Johns Hopkins University,
recently published a memo in which he called for the
elimination of the Zapatistas and also suggested that the
Mexican government might not find it convenient to honor
the results of upcoming elections. In order to increase
the pressure on Director Roett, the following letter has
been circulated within the Hopkins community and has been
signed by a number of students. We urge you to draft a
protest as well, and mail it to the following addresses:
Riordan Roett
Director of Latin American Studies
School of Advanced International Studies
1740 Massachusetts Ave. N.W.
Washington DC 20036
Dean George Packard
School of Advanced International Studies
1740 Massachusetts Ave. N.W.
Washington DC 20036
President William Richardson
242 Garland Hall
Johns Hopkins University
34th and Charles Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21218
Thanks, Bruce Podobnik podobnik@jhuvm.hcf.jhu.edu
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LETTER OF PROTEST
TO: Riordan Roett, Director of Latin American Studies
Copies forwarded to Dean George Pratt, SAIS, and
President William Richardson, Johns Hopkins
University.
FROM: Department of Sociology, Johns Hopkins University.
RE: Memo Written by Director Roett regarding the current
situation in Mexico.
Director Roett:
Feb. 22, 1995
We are writing in order to express our extreme dismay and
outrage regarding statements contained in your document,
"Chase Manhattan's Emerging Market's Group Memo," dated
January 13, 1995. According to published reports, this
document also served as the basis for a public
presentation which you made at a January 11 seminar,
organized by the Center for Strategic and International
Studies. In both the memo and in the seminar, you offer
recommendations to the Administration of President
Ernesto Zedillo as to how to sustain foreign
investor confidence in Mexico following the recent
financial crisis. Two of your recommendations strike us
as being particularly irresponsible.
1) In your memo you state, with reference to the
government of President Zedillo: "The government will
need to eliminate the Zapatistas to demonstrate their
effective control of the national territory and of
security policy." As Director of Latin American Studies
at SAIS, you must have been aware that the Mexican
government had been building up its security
presence in Chiapas throughout the latter part of 1994.
We believe that it was extremely irresponsible of you to
make a public statement of this sort in such a highly-
charged context. We would also note that Mexican security
forces began a large-scale takeover of former rebel areas
on February 9 (New York Times, Feb. 21 1995, A13), less
than a month after your memo was published. Although
news reports are sporadic, it appears that Mexican
security forces are engaging in the widespread violation
of the human rights of citizens in the region.
2) In your memo you also state, with reference to
upcoming elections at the state-level in Mexico:
"The Zedillo administration will need to consider
carefully whether or not to allow opposition victories if
fairly won at the ballot box." As you must know, Mexico
has a very troubling history of electoral corruption. In
recent Presidential elections, however, halting progress
towards reforming the electoral process and ensuring that
fair electoral outcomes are honored has been made. We
therefore believe that it is extremely irresponsible of
you to suggest that PRI, for whatever reason, might now
want to reverse its efforts towards instituting truly
fair democratic procedures in Mexico.
We formally request from you a clarification regarding
these points. We also call on you to publicly retract
your statements by writing letters to the Mexican
administration of Ernesto Zedillo, to the investors which
attended your seminar, and to the Hopkins community.
Given that your memo has been widely discussed and
condemned on the Internet, we also suggest that you
publish a retraction in that medium as well.
Respectfully,
(signatures deleted)