MEXICO CITY (AP) -- For more than 20 years, Mexico's most respected
                  independent newsweekly withstood the wrath of powerful politicians and
                  government pressure as it denounced corruption and malfeasance.

                  Now, internal disputes and a wave of resignations within Proceso magazine
                  seem to threaten the crusading publication that had helped champion critical
                  reporting in a once-servile news industry.

                  "Its contribution to opening up Mexico's political system is invaluable," said
                  Raymundo Riva Palacio, a 25-year veteran of Mexican journalism and
                  managing editor of a competing magazine, Milenio. "It really helped our
                  nation in its democratic transition."

                  Proceso was founded in 1976 after President Luis Echeverria's
                  administration tried to tame Mexico's most prominent newspaper, Excelsior,
                  by engineering the ouster of independent editor Julio Scherer Garcia.

                  Scherer and some colleagues then launched their own magazine, and
                  Proceso's acid-laced critical essays and investigative reports turned it into
                  the most widely read newsweekly in Mexico.

                  The magazine broke stories on previously taboo subjects such as
                  drug-related corruption within the Mexican army and the alleged illegal
                  enrichment of Raul Salinas de Gortari, brother of former President Carlos
                  Salinas -- published while he was still in office.

                  Scherer retired in 1996 and took a seat on the board of directors. Rather
                  than naming a successor, Scherer appointed an editorial committee of top
                  reporters and columnists.

                  The lack of clear leadership seemed to take some of the edge off the
                  magazine, causing polarization among the staff, according to a letter to the
                  daily Cronica signed by 15 of those who resigned.

                  "The air in Proceso became unbreathable," they complained.

                  Finally, hurt by falling readership, Proceso's board of directors chose Rafael
                  Rodriguez Castaneda as its editor last week in a process some claimed was
                  manipulated by Scherer.

                  Froylan Lopez Narvaez, one of the directors who quit, said he entered the
                  meeting unaware that a new editor was on the agenda.

                  More than 20 members of the staff joined Lopez Narvaez and fellow
                  director Carlos Marin in quitting.

                  Rodriguez said he and Scherer had decided not to comment on the issue. "I
                  am only going to say that work in the magazine will speak for itself."

                  "The magazine is in crisis, but I hope an internal restructuring will take place,"
                  said Carlos Puig, Proceso's former Washington correspondent, who left the
                  magazine last year. "The magazine had been in crisis for three years due to a
                  lack of definition."

                  Riva Palacio, whose Milenio magazine made Proceso's turmoil its cover
                  story this week, isn't so certain recovery is possible.

                  "Unfortunately, a very united group of journalists has now broken up, and I
                  think Proceso will never be the same again," he said. "It is a great paradox,
                  given the multiple government attacks it was able to withstand."

                    Copyright 1999 The Associated Press.