MEXICAN MAYOR ARRESTED IN PROBE OF ASSASSINATION

Politician Was Killed Before She Could Expose Graft

MEXICO CITY - The mayor of an affluent Mexico City suburb has been arrested
in connection with the assassination of a city council member, a
27-year-old crusader who planned to reveal evidence of municipal corruption
and involvement in drug trafficking.

Juan Antonio Domnguez, the mayor of Atizapan, was placed under house arrest
Tuesday night after a probe by Mexico state officials into the mob-style
slaying Sept. 5 of Mara de los Angeles Tames, an attorney and the daughter
of a former federal senator.

Family members say she had gathered evidence of widespread public-works
corruption, protection rackets and drug trafficking in the city
administration. She was preparing to resign from the council and present
the evidence to state authorities, they say.

The state attorney general's office said in a statement that Domnguez had
been placed in custody because of his "presumed involvement in the
assassination of the councilwoman, who discovered and denounced various
administrative irregularities in the city."

Tames was a member of a family that is prominent in President Vicente Fox's
National Action Party, or PAN. Her mother, Evangelina Perez Zaragoza,
served a year in the Mexican senate. Her father was a candidate for
Atizapan mayor in 1990.

Domnguez also is a member of PAN.

Investigators say they want to question City Clerk Gerardo Antonio Cortez
and Police Chief Antonio Vega de la Garza, neither of whom has reported to
work for several days. The investigators also are probing alleged
eavesdropping conducted by "high-level city officials" on employees
including Tames.

Also under arrest is the mayor's former personal secretary, Daniel Garca,
who resigned last year after Tames and other council members complained
that city purchasing procedures were rigged.

"She had very fixed ethical and moral values and did not tolerate lies,"
said Tames' father, Pedro Tames, in an interview Wednesday at the Notimex
news agency, where he is administrative director. "Her goals were to pursue
justice and women's rights, and to someday run for congress."

But fellow members of the city council said her criticism of questionable
administrative procedures and land use during open council sessions earned
her powerful enemies.

The investigation into her slaying focused for weeks on Domnguez, who
maintains his innocence and last week complained of harassment by
investigators. In a statement issued Tuesday, he said the city government
wanted to solve Tames' slaying.

"We don't want public opinion and the news media to be misguided. That is
why the attorney general's office must conduct investigations properly, so
as to prevent confusion and protect other people's honor," Dante Moncada,
the mayor's press officer, said Wednesday.