Peso Fiasco Sullies Salinas’ Claim to Fame : Mexico: The former president’s vaunted economic stabilization is in tatters. His political foes even call for prosecution.

MEXICO CITY — Dust settling around the peso devaluation and subsequent emergency austerity plan is starting to sully what barely a month ago was considered the undisputed accomplishment of former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari: stabilizing the Mexican economy.

A survey of 114 business leaders and economists by the independent newspaper Reforma found that 38% blame Salinas for the currency crisis, just 8% said the month-old Ernesto Zedillo administration is responsible and 29% believe there is enough guilt for both governments to share.

Opposition party leaders are calling for Salinas’ prosecution, asking citizens to provide evidence for filing a criminal complaint against those they say are responsible: the former president and his closest advisers. Zedillo was a member of Salinas’ economic team.

“It is an economic crime,” said Sen. Heberto Castillo of the leftist Democratic Revolutionary Party. “Salinas left a time bomb for the new administration.”

To some extent, the accusations against Salinas are typical efforts to make past administrations the scapegoats for problems. Nevertheless, the economic crisis has raised serious questions about the former president’s tenure.

When Zedillo took office Dec. 1, analysts generally recognized that he was inheriting a political muddle, with a simmering rebellion in the southern state of Chiapas and two high-profile assassinations many Mexicans blame on the ruling party.

But at least Salinas was believed to be handing over a strong economy. Inflation had been cut from three digits to one, the federal budget had been balanced, and this nation seemed well on the way to international competitiveness as a founding partner in the North American Free Trade Agreement.

That myth was shattered during the past two weeks as the peso’s value plunged about 40%.

Economic instability quickly became Mexico’s biggest worry, overshadowing concerns about political unrest, especially after Chiapas rebels agreed to return to the negotiating table. With the promise of resumed peace talks, controversial Bishop Samuel Ruiz on Wednesday ended a hunger strike he began two weeks ago to pressure the government and guerrillas into talks.

The first casualty of the economic crisis was Treasury Secretary Jaime Serra Puche, fired after foreign investors decried his handling of the peso problem as clumsy and arrogant. Salinas’ reputation appears to be the next in line to suffer.

In interviews this week, many analysts said the crisis could have been avoided if Salinas had initiated a gradual devaluation six months ago instead of stubbornly supporting an overvalued currency. He and former Treasury Secretary Pedro Aspe Armella argued that any hint of devaluation would undermine investor confidence, provoking capital flight and a crisis similar to the one Mexico is now suffering.

Salinas’ decision contrasts sharply with the tradition established in the 1976 and 1982 devaluations, when outgoing administrations announced the bad news, allowing the new president to take office with a clean slate.

Instead, Salinas spent billions of dollars in foreign reserves to defend the peso as the trade deficit swelled during the last year of his administration, depleting the country’s foreign currency holdings. That left Zedillo without enough money to support a gradual devaluation against the predictable currency speculation that would have occurred if one had been announced, analysts said.

By that reasoning, he had little choice other than the abrupt 15% devaluation on Dec. 20 that started the downward spiral.

“Zedillo and Serra Puche were left with a mess,” said Paul White, who heads emerging-markets activities at Arco Investment Management in Los Angeles. “They didn’t handle it particularly well, but they were not responsible for the mess.”