Cmdr Marcos Dismisses Mexico's "Reforms"


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   Wednesday May 19 8:56 PM ET
   
   Mexico Rebel Leader Denies Reforms

   By MICHELLE RAY ORTIZ Associated Press Writer 
   
   LA REALIDAD, Mexico (AP) - The leader of Mexico's Zapatista rebels has
   dismissed election reforms by the ruling party, saying an upcoming
   presidential vote will not be any more democratic. Whoever the victor,
   he said, his movement would continue to push for Indian rights.
   
   The ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, has decided for
   the first time to hold primaries to select a candidate to run for
   president in July 2000 elections, instead of following the tradition
   of having the incumbent - in this case President Ernesto Zedillo -
   pick his successor.
   
   In a rare interview with a foreign reporter, the Zapatistas'
   Subcomandante Marcos said Tuesday that Zedillo was just trying to
   appear that he is expanding democracy - while the system will still
   allow his political machine to control the choice of nominee.
   
   It is widely assumed that Zedillo's personal pick is Francisco
   Labastida, who announced Tuesday that he will resign his post as
   interior secretary to seek the PRI's nomination.
   
   Marcos, wearing his trademark black ski mask and holding an AR-15
   assault rifle on his lap, said Zedillo's free-market cadre within the
   PRI is determined to put a like-minded candidate in place rather than
   an old-style populist favoring big government, which would describe
   most of the other contenders.
   
   The president is also under pressure to keep differences between the
   two PRI factions from exploding - as many Mexicans believed happened
   in 1994 when PRI candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio was assasinated at a
   campaign rally.
   
   ``The main goal is not to choose a candidate, but to choose one
   without bloodshed,'' Marcos said.
   
   Marcos expressed disappointment that Zedillo apparently intends to
   leave office without resolving the 51/2-year-old conflict in the
   southern state of Chiapas. Peace talks have been stalled since 1996.
   
   The leader of the Zapatista National Revolutionary Army said his group
   will continue to make the same demand of the next president - greater
   justice for Mexico's poor Indians.
   
   ``Our demands will not change,'' he said. ``The attitude of the
   Zapatistas toward this new head of federal government will be the same
   regardless of which political party it is.''
   
       Copyright (c) 1999 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
 
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