MEXICO: Mexico is poised to indict a former president for ordering a massacre 33 years ago, an unprecedented step that puts President Vicente Fox back on a collision course with the long-ruling PRI party he ousted four years ago.
By tomorrow, a special prosecutor named by Mr Fox is to present charges in a 1971 attack by a paramilitary gang on student protesters that killed at least 25.
The prosecutor says the massacre epitomised systematic state repression under the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, and rights groups say the charges would end long-standing official impunity.
The president at the time, Luis Echeverria, is widely expected to be charged. Now 82, he would be the first former Mexican president to face criminal charges.
Mr Fox, who ousted the PRI in 2000 elections, would finally make good on campaign pledges to punish past crimes in high places under the PRI and some experts say he could guarantee his legacy with the indictment.
PRI leaders accuse Mr Fox of provoking discord and say they may halt talks over his crucial fiscal, labour and energy initiatives.