Mexico Red Cross in crisis after corruption chrges

CNN 24 September 1998 Mexico Red Cross in crisis after corruption charges

                  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -- The Mexican Red Cross, regarded as one of
                  the few bastions of moral integrity in Mexican public life, has slipped from its
                  pedestal amid allegations of corruption from high-level officials who resigned
                  en masse.

                  Plunging the organization into a deep crisis, nine directors of the charity
                  stepped down Wednesday, alleging "abuse of power" and financial
                  irregularities under the organization's president Jose Barroso.

                  "There are a lot of irregularities which have not been explained," the outgoing
                  Mexico City director of the Mexican Red Cross, Salvador Padilla, told
                  Radio Red on Thursday morning.

"We resigned in order to pressure officials into investigating these
irregularities," he said.

                  Mexico fared poorly in the latest analysis of corruption by Germany-based
                  watchdog Transparency International, coming in 55th, level with Ghana, the
                  Philippines and Senegal.

                  Though wary of corrupt officialdom in general, ordinary Mexicans rarely
                  questioned the trustworthiness of the local Red Cross. The bulk of donations
                  for humanitarian relief efforts flow through its coffers, such as for the
                  devastating floods this month in the impoverished, southern state of Chiapas.

                  Barroso's office brushed off the significance of the mass walkout, saying
                  most of the officials who resigned had come to the ends of their terms
                  anyway.

"The people who resigned will continue to collaborate with the Red Cross as
members of its national council," it said in a statement.

Barroso was out of town and could not be contacted, his aides said.

Outgoing Mexico City Red Cross head Padilla said he and the other
directors wanted Barroso to explain some "obscure" financial transactions.

                  Among them, he mentioned a $300,000 donation from the United States for
                  relief efforts after Hurricane Pauline ripped through the Pacific Coast resort
                  of Acapulco last October, killing up to 400 people.

Padilla said no one had been able to explain where the money went or how
it was spent.

                  The mass resignation came two days after President Ernesto Zedillo
                  criticized the Red Cross for failing to get aid to flood victims in Chiapas,
                  even though hundreds of tons of clothes, food and water had been collected
                  around the country.

"I have not seen a kilo of this aid," Zedillo charged.

Barroso immediately retorted by saying the president had no right to
reproach his organization.

                  He said the reason Zedillo had not seen any Red Cross supplies was that he
                  could fly by helicopter into areas cut off by floodwaters but the Red Cross
                  and its relief packages could not, because it did not have the support of the
                  armed forces.

                  Barroso has clashed with Zedillo's administration before. Officials were
                  furious when the Red Cross said at least 400 people had died in Hurricane
                  Pauline while the government, maintained the death toll was just 200.
                  Mexican governments traditionally play down the extent of disasters.

                  ration before. Officials were furious when the Red Cross said at least 400
                  people had died in Hurricane Pauline while the government, maintained the
                  death toll was just 200. Mexican governments traditionally play down the
                  extent of disasters.