SALINAS VERDICT SAID GROUNDED IN POLITICS, NOT LAW

MEXICO CITY, Jan 21 (Reuters) - The law in Mexico caught up with a former
president's family on Thursday with the murder conviction of Raul Salinas,
brother of ex-President Carlos Salinas.

But rather than signalling a victory for justice, it is more a case of
politics invading the courtroom, analysts said following the verdict.

"We're not seeing an act of justice in the strict sense, but rather a
political action disguised as justice," Lorenzo Meyer, a Mexican historian
told Reuters. "But I don't think many Mexicans will regret the verdict."

Judge Ricardo Ojeda acknowledged he had scant motive and only
circumstantial evidence on which to convict Salinas for the 1994 murder of
Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu, a rising star in politics and former
brother-in-law of Raul Salinas.

The political winner, experts agree, is current President Ernesto Zedillo,
who staked much of his presidency on approving the arrest of Raul Salinas
in February 1995.

Less than three months after taking over from Carlos Salinas, Zedillo
approved Raul Salinas' arrest when an investigation indicated Raul ordered
the murder of Ruiz Massieu.

"This is good for Zedillo because he looks vindicated," said Vicente
Licona, a respected political pollster.

The verdict also complicated any hopes Carlos Salinas might have had of
returning to Mexico. The disgraced former president fled into self-imposed
exile after his brother's arrest.

Ever since the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) came to power in
1929, former presidents and their families were always suspected of being
above the law.

The Salinas brothers rose up through that system. Their father was a former
cabinet minister and ambassador to Moscow.

Their sister, Adriana, married into it, taking Ruiz Massieu as a husband,
although they divorced years before Ruiz Massieu's political ascent and
eventual murder.

Carlos Salinas became a cabinet minister and Raul Salinas a high-level
bureaucrat under the administration of former President Miguel de la Madrid
(1982 to 1988).

When Carlos Salinas was elected president in 1988, Raul tagged along,
continuing to work for a government food assistance programme and later a
public works agency.

But according to a Swiss investigation of Raul Salinas' wealth, he peddled
his influence to international drug traffickers, raking in at least $500
million by granting them protection to ship cocaine through Mexico.

Amid mounting evidence of financial crimes, commentators believed Raul
Salinas might be cleared of murder because of a seemingly weak case and the
poor reputation of the Attorney General's Office (PGR) for conducting
investigations.

The chief prosecutor who won the conviction, Jose Luis Ramos Rivera,
inherited a case in a shambles.

The first special prosecutor, ironically the victim's brother, covered up
evidence in the case in order to exonerate Salinas, while the second
special prosecutor got caught fabricating evidence against Salinas,
officials said.

"No one can say with full conviction whether he is guilty or innocent,"
said Joel Estudillo of the Mexican Institute of Political Studies. "Because
of all the failures the PGR experienced, the problems in getting proof
together, and the arguments of the defence that appeared very valid, that
is what generates doubts."