Alfonso Martinez Dominguez, 81; Mayor Probed in 1971 Deaths

Alfonso Martinez Dominguez, 81, a former mayor of Mexico City, died Wednesday of heart and kidney failure at a hospital in Monterrey, Mexico.

Martinez, whose testimony was considered a key part of the government probe into the deaths of student protesters in 1971, which occurred during his term, also served as governor of Nuevo Leon from 1979-85.

Shortly after he was hospitalized in July, government prosecutors visited Martinez to question him about his alleged role in a June 1971 incident in which security forces in civilian clothes beat and shot at student demonstrators in Mexico City, leaving an estimated 30 protesters dead.

Martinez denied any involvement and said the security forces involved were under the control of then-President Luis Echeverria, who also is under investigation in connection with both the 1971 incident and a larger student massacre in 1968. Echeverria also has denied responsibility.

President Vicente Fox named a special prosecutor last year.

Born in Monterrey, Martinez graduated from Franco-Mexican College. He became a leading figure in the conservative wing of PRI, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which had ruled Mexico for 71 years until Fox was elected in 2000.