Bombs Damage Three Banks in Mexican City

May 23, 2004
By OSWALD ALONSO
ASSOCIATED PRESS

JIUTEPEC, Mexico (AP) -

Bombs exploded outside three banks in a central Mexican city overnight, heavily damaging them but causing no injuries, authorities said Sunday.

The explosions occurred around midnight on Saturday in an industrial area of Jiutepec, a town near Cuernavaca about 35 miles from Mexico City. The blasts shattered the front windows of the banks, tossed furniture and ripped out ceiling tiles.

The explosions took place outside branches of Banamex, BBVA-Bancomer and Santander Serfin. Explosives left outside a HSBC bank did not go off.

Morelos Governor Sergio Estrada, a member of Fox's National Action Party, has come under pressure from opposition legislators to resign amid a federal investigation into ties between state officials and a major Mexican drug trafficking organization.

"Foxism has demonstrated that under imperialistic hegemony, moral and political degradation have no limits," the statement read, without mention of the explosions. "May no honest force be surprised before this cry of protest that is the only option left to us."

Estrada appeared at a news conference Sunday afternoon to condemn the bombings and called on "Morales society, political parties, the legislature and judiciary to construct a common front against violence."

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