Letters: Jan. 10, 1983

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Mexico's Future

To the Editors:

Your cover story on Mexico [Dec. 20]

beautifully illustrates that nation's best

hope: its long-suffering, noble people and

vast, wasted natural resources.

Victor Orozco Briggs, Texas

Your fine story will go far to cement the warm relations between Mexico and the U.S. Fortunately, Mexico now has a great statesman in its new President.

Richard L. Higby Adams, Wis.

The message is clear. Mexico is a mature nation and should be allowed to solve its problems. At the same time, the U.S. is expected to sit back, furnish billions in bailouts with no strings attached and permit hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens to enter our country.

J. Randolph Johnson Rock Hill, S. C.

Mexico is doomed to poverty and chaos because it refuses to limit its population. President de la Madrid's large family is a poor example for a country that is drowning in people.

David McCargo Jr. Anchorage

Bravo for the refreshing article by Octavio Paz. It was time something was said about the problems existing in Mexico because of American foreign policy.

Nettie M. Cameron Bellingham, Wash.

Palatable Death

The death penalty is the ultimate punishment for Charlie Brooks [Dec. 20]. It also grants equity to the victim. Brooks' execution is proof that in a civilized society, people cannot commit barbaric acts without paying the consequences.

Gabriella S. Ciocci Miami

You make it sound as though the 1,100 inmates on death row are there for a petty offense like shoplifting. They are in prison for murder. Society would be much safer if these prisoners were put to death.

Rhea Beth Compton Phoenix

I do not understand this preoccupation with the "humane way" to execute killers. What compassion do they show the victims whom they dispatch with gun, knife, ax, club or poison?

Robert H. Dodsley

Managing Editor, Sioux City Journal Sioux City, Iowa

Killing is immoral whether done by the state or an individual. Murder will not cease so long as society feels it has a right to put to death those who kill.

(The Rev.) Daniel R. Gangler Lincoln, Neb.

Australian Intrigue (Cont.)

I was pleased that TIME gave attention to my recent Foreign Policy article on American-Australian relations [Dec. 13]. However, TIME'S insinuation that I draw upon whispers and rumors (and only left-wing ones at that) rather than normal scholarly sources is unfair. The question of U.S. improprieties in Australian politics was raised not by me but by former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and by highly placed Labor Party officials. The case substantiating CIA involvement in the downfall of the Whitlam government can be found in books, police reports, TV documentaries and hundreds of newspapers ranging across the political spectrum. This evidence strongly suggests that the CIA was not a passive witness.