• by IPS Correspondents (mexico city)
• Wednesday, December 28, 1994
• Inter Press Service

MEXICO CITY, Dic 28 (IPS) - The Zapatista insurgents who took up arms in early January in the southeastern Mexican state of Chiapas agreed on Wednesday to engage once again in peace talks with the government, and the army immediately began to fall back in the conflict zone.

Both events provide hope after the ceasefire that was set on Jan. 13 has for nearly a month been on the verge of being broken.

The Mexican army began to withdraw, after ceasing their movements in the conflict zone. The expansion of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) and government forces had reduced the distance between the two sides to a mere two kilometres.

The EZLN accepted the National Mediation Commission (CONAI) as a go-between. The commission is headed by Samuel Ruiz, bishop of San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas.

Ruiz acted as mediator since the ceasefire until in mid-July the rebel forces refused to accept the government's response to their demands.

Since President Ernesto Zedillo was inaugurated on Dec. 1, his government had not mentioned the CONAI as a possible mediator, but the EZLN called for the commission as the only valid go-between in the peace dialogue.

On Oct. 8 the Zapatistas had broken off the talks "because of the total lack of credibility of government authorities."

Speaking to the press, Ruiz announced on Wednesday that once the dialogue has gotten underway, he will abandon the hunger fast he began on Dec. 19, in which a number of public figures had joined.

Two weeks ago, the insurgents had advanced - without bloodshed - and expanded rebel-controlled territory from four to 38 of the 110 villages and towns of Chiapas, penetrating the line of troops surrounding their area of influence in the eastern part of the state.

On Dec. 8, the EZLN announced that it considered the government to have broken the fragile armed truce.

The position was based on the fact that the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) candidate to the governorship of Chiapas, Eduardo Robledo, took office, after the two largest opposition parties and the Zapatistas had protested that the PRI candidate won by fraud.

The EZLN announced they would only recognise centre-left Democratic Revolution Party candidate Amado Avendano, who simultaneously with Robledo set himself up in office.

Robledo promised to step down if a peaceful solution to the conflict is found, and Avendano demanded a transition government in Chiapas and the calling of new elections.

Announcing the withdrawal of troops in the conflict zone, the Secretary of National Defence claimed that troop deployment over the last few days "was a response to the unilateral breaking of the truce by the insurgents, and was a move to protect the population."

According to unofficial sources close to the army, in the first half of January some 1,000 people were killed and 3,000 wounded, divided in virtually equal parts between soldiers, guerrillas and civilians.

Some 60,000 people were forcibly displaced and enormous material damages were caused, as well as a drastic decline in tourism, an important traditional activity in the state of Chiapas.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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