|
|
December 1, 2000/Kislev 10, 5761, Vol. 53, No.10
Mexico's Jews eye openly religious president
RHONA STATLAND DE LOPEZ
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
MEXICO CITY - As religion mixes with politics in a way Mexico has not seen in its modern history, Mexico's Jews are watching their new president closely.
When Vicente Fox is inaugurated today (Dec. 1), he will become Mexico's first openly religious Roman Catholic president in more than a century. The Institutional Revolutionary Party, known by its Spanish initials PRI, was voted out after more than 70 years in power. Fox, of the conservative National Action Party, known by the acronym PAN, beat Francisco Labastida of the PRI in July's vote.
Mexican Jews tend to keep public silence when it comes to politics. When Fox held a meeting with Jewish leaders soon after he was elected, one newspaper called the meeting "discreet" and no names of Jewish leaders appeared in print.
"There are about 50,000 to 60,000 Jews in Mexico, but we don't have a lot of political representation," says Abram Shamai, a Jewish businessman. "We just want to be left alone."
The habit of keeping a low profile may have come from the 1970s, when then-President Luis Echeverria spearheaded the 1975 United Nations resolution equating Zionism with racism.
The constitution of 1857 separated church and state, and other laws removed marriage and divorce from church jurisdiction.
Even tougher limits were imposed on the church in 1917 after the Mexican Revolution.
And in this country, where 90 percent of the population is Roman Catholic, religion has been officially invisible since 1929. Priests and nuns were not allowed to wear their clerical garb in public, and religious leaders were restricted from interfering in politics. Political leaders kept their religious practices from public view.
Religious restrictions gradually faded in practice, and a 1992 law formally ended most of them.
Since then, church and state in Mexico have sparred over just how far priests can go to influence politics under a reform that ended many of the laws imposed on clergy.
Meanwhile, the Jewish community still keeps a low profile partly because several of its members have been kidnapped.
In fact, one of the major subjects on the agenda when Fox, 58, met with Jewish leaders was safety. Fox said many Jewish concerns are national concerns.
While many Jews voted for Fox, they remain concerned about Fox's conservative political party, which is considered to be allied with the Catholic Church.
Many fear that Catholicism will become a far stronger force in Mexico because of the PAN's conservative religious leanings.
Fox himself has said that while he is religious, he would not impose his spiritual views on the nation. He has also called for an end to aggression against people of different faiths and promises to push an initiative to guarantee more religious liberty for all.
"While to many the PAN means Christian intolerance, Fox has promised religious freedom and a continuation of secular education in the public schools. He is in no way hand in glove with the church," says Vivian Antaki, dean of Endicott College in Mexico City.
Shamai agrees. "We believe that Fox is not representative of the PAN. He's divorced and doesn't attend Mass frequently. We're not talking Joe Lieberman here."
|
