TheNewsMexico.com
January 9, 2002

The governor of Chiapas said "at least 150 members of congress" have signed a document that seeks to garner support to reopen discussion on the indigenous reform bill passed by Congress last April.

"This is our last ray of hope," governor Pablo Salazar Mendiguchia said, adding the national Congress is the only institution with the authority to reopen debate on the law.

Critics of the new law say it does nothing to provide redress to the country's indigenous people who have suffered centuries of repression and does not guarantee the protection of Indians' human rights, culture and native lands.

The Indian Rights bill was the result of a 1996 agreement between then-President Ernesto Zedillo and the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN). Based in the impoverished state of Chiapas, the EZLN took up arms against the government in 1994 in an effort to bring attention to the plight of indigenous people in Mexico.

Passage of the original version of the accord was one of the rebel group's demands to restart peace negotiations with the government.

In December 2000 Vicente Fox, in his first act as president, sent the bill to Congress. Congress approved the bill in April, but not without making significant modifications to the original version, generating severe criticism from indigenous groups. In response to the law, the EZLN broke off all contact with the government.

President Fox, after initially praising the indigenous law, called for a "second round of discussions."

On the eighth anniversary of the armed uprising in Chiapas, Salazar Mendiguchia said he does not think a similar outbreak of violence will erupt in his state, but urged legislators to address the basic demands of indigenous groups.

"War is not a viable option (for the EZLN), but at the same time we are not as close to peace as we would like to be," the Chiapas governor said.