As President Adolfo Ruiz Cortines cracks down on one after another of the political millionaires who grew fat under the last administration, Mexicans are beginning to sound off publicly against the excesses of ex-President Miguel Alemán's regime. Last week Justice Luis Corona and four other members of the supreme court were hearing arguments in the appeal of four men convicted in 1950 of the murder of a newsman. The defendants offered evidence that they had been framed by top officials working with the Alemán-created Federal Security Police, an outfit said to have been controlled by Miguel Alemán's pal, ex-Senate President Carlos Serrano. As their story unfolded, Justice Corona interrupted to loose the most scathing blast yet against the Alemán regime by a highly placed Mexican.
"I cry out against this conspiracy!" he said. "This Federal Security Police, this national insult, should exist no longer, now that there is no more booty to cover up. Now we have a First Magistrate who has the people's support because he is keeping his promise to regenerate Mexico and make an end of the filthy sewer of mud that has smothered the national conscience under a certain prosperity these past six years, and has transformed a pedregal [old lava field] into a spectacular oasis for the profit of investors."
Leaving no doubt that he was talking about Alemán's lavish new University City (TIME, Feb. 23), built at a cost of more than $25 million in the Mexico City suburb of Pedregal de San Angel, Justice Corona snapped: "All that material grandeur is a mausoleum in which is buried the dignity of Mexico. Would to God that in its place we had a well-kept park with a floral sign saying the nation is still ashamed."
In the courtroom, spectators burst into loud applause. Court President Castro Estrada dutifully admonished Justice Corona; the case went on. But newspapers played up the judge's remarks, and popular comment seemed heavily in his favor.