Miguel Mancera

Mexicans knew the party was over and the bills charged to the oil boom were coming due when Miguel Mancera was named head of the central bank in 1982. Notorious as a fiscal tightwad in a government of big spenders, Mancera was his nation's symbol of austerity. In 11 years as the Bank of Mexico's governor, he has done nothing to alter that image. "What does Mancera do with his old suits?" asks a familiar quip. The answer: "He wears them."

Mexicans knew the party was over and the bills charged to the oil boom were coming due when Miguel Mancera was named head of the central bank in 1982. Notorious as a fiscal tightwad in a government of big spenders, Mancera was his nation's symbol of austerity. In 11 years as the Bank of Mexico's governor, he has done nothing to alter that image. "What does Mancera do with his old suits?" asks a familiar quip. The answer: "He wears them."

MEXICO CITY - Millions of Mexicans voted Sunday to restore to power a once-authoritarian party they dumped 12 years ago, according to preliminary results, while also delivering a harsh rebuke to a government that advanced democratic rule but saw the country plunge into grisly violence. In an initial, partial count released just before midnight, the federal election commission said Enrique Peña Nieto, the telegenic candidate for the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, was winning about 38% of the vote.

Mexico City police said they have detained five suspects in the kidnapping and killing of a 14-year-old boy, a crime that prompted protests across the nation. Officials said kidnappers dressed as police and set up a fake checkpoint on a busy street to snare victim Fernando Marti, revealing the complexity and sophistication of Mexico's organized crime gangs. City prosecutor Miguel Mancera said the suspected ringleader, Sergio Ortiz, posed as a well-heeled society type to move among the wealthy and collect information on potential victims.

President Ernesto Zedillo sprang a major surprise, naming Treasury Minister Guillermo Ortiz to head the central bank but not saying who would replace him at the helm of the Mexican economy. "President Zedillo will name [Ortiz] governor of Banco de Mexico to replace Miguel Mancera Aguayo, whose period at the head of the institution ends on Dec. 31," the president's office said. Ortiz, 49, is the man credited with turning around Mexico's economy after the disastrous December 1994 peso

Kidnappers grabbed a 5-year-old boy from a gritty Mexico City street market, then killed him by injecting acid into his heart, officials said. Javier Morena was the oldest son of a poor family that sold fruit in the Iztapalapa neighborhood. Javier went missing Oct. 26, Mexico City authorities said. A 17-year-old family friend and four other suspects have been arrested. Police raided the youth's home. Mexico City Atty. Gen. Miguel Mancera said in a statement that Javier was killed before the kidnappers could ask for a $23,000 ransom.

MEXICAN STOCKS * The Bolsa index jumped 25.08 points to 2,750.13 on Wednesday, buoyed by Wall Street's gains and by bullish news about Mexico's foreign currency reserves. Another rise in short-term interest rates early in the day didn't deter buyers. * Bank of Mexico Gov. Miguel Mancera announced that foreign reserves stood at $17.2 billion at the end of last week, slightly higher than many analysts had estimated, though well below the $24.5 billion on Jan. 1.

MEXICO CITY -- The city that was once considered one of the world's  most polluted  and crime-ridden now boasts that it is a haven from Mexico's drug violence and has gone so "green" with new mass transit lines and  trendy vertical gardens that it is hardly recognizable from its former self. Miguel Angel Mancera, the newly sworn-in mayor, vowed this week to continue the socially progressive policies of his predecessor and make Mexico's gargantuan capital "safer, freer, more equal, more progressive" during his next six years in office.

President Ernesto Zedillo, responding to outcries from Mexico's business owners, on Tuesday outlined an economic recovery plan that will include lifting some import barriers and setting up a special fund for companies with credit problems. It also proposes indexing loan payments to the inflation rate, official efforts to help Mexican banks raise capital and creation of a futures market for the peso, officials of the central bank said.

Mexico's Finance Minister Pedro Aspe flew to Washington on Monday for talks on renegotiating the country's $100-billion foreign debt. Aspe will seek a few basic goals at the talks: reduction of net transfers and debt, a multiannual renegotiation and lowering Mexico's proportion of debt to gross domestic product, a ministry statement said. Aspe is accompanied by Banco de Mexico director-general Miguel Mancera and finance ministry undersecretaries Guillermo Ortiz and Angel Gurria.