Spiral (57 page)

Authors: David L Lindsey

BOOK: Spiral

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He ran the fingers of one hand over the gate's ornate pattern, its iron turned scaly with rust, dripping with cold mist. Slowly, he put his fingers through the strange motif and gripped it tightly, watching the whorls of his breath float through its coils to the other side, toward the black bamboo.

Incredible.

Suddenly he rattled the gate once, sharply, and stood still, listening to the sound of chain and iron being swallowed by the moist, dark throat of the night. Then he turned and walked away.

"Western diplomats say almost offhandedly that they suspect that tof officials made off with billions of dollars during the six-year administratior [1976-1982] of former President Jose Lopez Portillo, who is now said to be in Europe."

Newsweek,
August 12,1985

"Wealthy Mexicans and their money are pouring into the U.S. . . . Mexico's central bank acknowledges that in 1977-1984, at least $33 billion flowed out of the country. Other economists say the total could be closer to $60 billion. . . . Some international economists estimate that as much as $5 billion has escaped this year [1985] alone.. . .

"In Houston, [one] law firm represents some 2,000 wealthy Mexicans who have invested more than $15 million each year since 1983 in U.S. assets ranging from restaurants to warehouses."

Wall Street Journal,
October 11,1985

"[Mexico's] level of capital flight, estimated at more than $6 billion a year, may be the highest in the world... ."

New York Times,
May 25, 1986

"A controversial CIA study called Mexico the leading long-term foreign-policy concern of the United States because of the likelihood of widespread social turmoil."

Newsweek,
August 12,1985

"Mexico's immediate stability is endangered less by a rebellion of the masses led by the Left than by a mutiny of the middle class inspired by the Right....