By Mary Jordan
Washington Post Foreign Service

MEXICO CITY, Oct. 26 –– Thousands of Mexican bureaucrats blocked major downtown streets today to protest President Ernesto Zedillo's decision not to
award the bonus traditionally paid to government workers at the end of a president's six-year term.

Zedillo, who leaves office Dec. 1, said Wednesday that the bonus was not legally authorized and not included in the budget approved by Congress. In the past,
presidents have doled it out as a perk.

The bonus would cost the government hundreds of millions of dollars. No precise figure was available, but each of about 1.8 million government workers would
receive a month's salary, averaging about $250 each.

Zedillo's refusal to pay it is the latest example of his efforts to have the administration operate more openly and less like a political club. The end of a presidential term
traditionally has been a time when the outgoing government goes on a spending spree, pays political debts and in some cases blatantly robs the government kitty.

Zedillo announced his decision in a speech Wednesday to union leaders, who jeered him with cries of "Bonus! Bonus! Bonus!" Despite the highly charged
atmosphere, Zedillo was typically low-key. Beyond saying that the bonuses were not mentioned in the budget, he did not explain his decision to break with the
tradition.

The move is typical of Zedillo's reform efforts. For example, he also has eschewed the enormous, off-the-books "secret funds" that presidents before him maintained
to pay for political favors.

But today's angry protests highlighted resentment at a number of Zedillo's moves. Many workers saw the decision not as an attempt to clean up Mexican
government, but as a way of taking money away from people who need it. They said they believed they were victims of Zedillo's efforts to create an austere, "Mr.
Clean" image for himself and the history books.

"Habit makes law, and this bonus has traditionally been given to us," said Ramon Montesinos, 40, who protested outside the Commerce Ministry building this
afternoon instead of working as a computer operator inside it.

Montesinos said Zedillo's action hurt only lower-ranking bureaucrats, and did not affect higher-ranking employees who are under a different compensation system.
He said Zedillo's move unfairly hurt those who need the extra money the most. It "helps us buy food and dress our kids," he said.

A clearly agitated Miguel Angel Zarraga, a technical analyst at the Commerce Ministry, said he had counted on the bonus money to pay off debts: "They say there is
no money for us, but they have money for stupid things, such as trips for [top] government officials."

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