E/Reu. Mexico denies Zapatista claim of clandestine talks Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Mexico denies Zapatista claim of clandestine talks By Caroline Brothers MEXICO CITY, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Mexico on Sunday hotly denied allegations it had tried to arrange a clandestine meeting with Zapatista guerrillas in troubled Chiapas state, insisting it wanted only to reopen stalled peace talks. Over the weekend Zapatista rebel leader Subcommander Marcos issued a communique from his Chiapas jungle stronghold alleging the government had made an offer of a secret meeting, which the Zapatistas had rejected as insulting. The government denied it had made any secret proposals and issued a communique of its own saying it had only offered to pursue long-stalled peace discussions. ``We are very sorry if a proposal whose only objective is to reopen dialogue to achieve peace in Chiapas is considered an insult,'' it said. ``However, a dignified peace is our proposal.'' And it issued copies of the eight-point message it had sent to Zapatista commanders on January 23. In a flurry of television appearances shortly after the statement was issued, government peace coordinator for Chiapas, Emilio Rabasa Gamboa, denied any cloak-and-dagger plans. ``The interior minister proposed a meeting, but not a secret meeting,'' he told Mexico's TV Azteca news. ``In no way was anything secret or confidential proposed -- we do everything in public view,'' he added on rival Televisa's ``Behind the News.'' The Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) staged an armed uprising against the Mexican government in southern Chiapas state in January 1994, demanding improved rights and recognition for the state's 900,000 Indians. Government negotiators and masked EZLN guerrillas sat down in the Chiapas hilltop town of San Andres Larrainzar to hammer out the terms of peace, signing a number of initiatives known as the San Andres accords. But talks broke down when the two sides could not agree on language that would enshrine the accords in law, while moves to give the Indians greater autonomy were seen as a sticking point. The rebels quit the negotiating table in September 1996, accusing the government of backtracking on its promises. Negotiations have been stalled ever since. In his statement Marcos insisted the government had to fulfill the San Andres accords, and said what the two parties had already agreed was not negotiable. ``(President Ernesto) Zedillo has gone back to betting on postponing a peaceful solution to the conflict by refusing to fulfill the San Andres accords,'' he said. ``We will not renegotiate San Andres.'' But in its January 23 message the government assured the rebels it did not wish to undo any of those accords, that it wanted to find a legal form to express them, and that it wanted a dialogue with the EZLN to help reduce tension on both sides. ``We propose a meeting to personally convey these points and to receive the response of the EZLN leadership,'' the message said. ``We would accept (a response) via an intermediary however we would prefer the first,'' it added without specifying whether the meeting would be secret or not. Zedillo has come under growing pressure to resolve the Chiapas conflict since paramilitary gunmen massacred 45 indigenous peasants in the village of Acteal in December, drawing international condemnation. Questioned about events in Chiapas at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on the weekend, Zedillo said his government was interested only in dialogue and negotiation. ``In no way will the government have recourse to violence in order to resolve the conflict,'' he said. REUTERS ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytcamer-02.03.98-11:30:58-2509