An unofficial announcement that Mexico will increase its exports of oil to Israel by 50 percent — from 30,000 barrels a day to 45,000 — has touched off a furious anti-Israel campaign by pro-Palestinian, Communist and other leftist elements here, including political factions that will participate in the parliamentary elections in July.
So far, President Jose Lopez Portillo and the Foreign Ministry have ignored the outburst but it is very much in evidence in the news media. Roberto Esperon, secretary general of the Partido Socialista de Los Trabgjadores (Socialist Workers Party), published an article in the daily Excelsior accusing Israel of re-exporting Mexican oil to South Africa and of selling arms to dictatorial regimes in Latin America such as Argentina, Chile and Nicaragua. The Israeli Embassy here has vehemently denied these charges.
The leftist daily EI Dia published a statement of solidarity with the Palestinian people and accused Israel. Egypt and the United States of “conspiring against the peace in the Middle East” The statement condemned the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty and “Israeli aggression” against the rights of the Palestinian people. It contended that the Palestine Liberation Organization is the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinians. The statement was signed by the leftist Mexican Peace Movement, the Communist Party, the Partido Popular Socialista and the Socialist Workers Party.
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