Mexico City Blast Sparks Fears Violence Will Spread

As army troops continued to bar access to indigenous communities in the south where the government has attacked suspected rebel strongholds, a car bomb exploded early Saturday in the capital amid fears that violence may spread.

A second explosion was reported in the tourist resort of Acapulco as government agencies stepped up security measures following threats from the self-proclaimed Zapatista National Liberation Army to extend its war to the capital.

No one claimed responsibility for Saturday’s explosions, but suspicion immediately fell on the Indian rebels.

The Mexico City newspaper La Jornada said it received a fax from the rebels saying they are willing to talk with the government, the Associated Press reported. The fax said the offer wasn’t a surrender and appealed to Mexicans to join the rebels’ cause.

In the southern, impoverished state of Chiapas, where the uprising began a week ago, about 100 demonstrators marched through winter drizzle Saturday through the picturesque town of San Cristobal de las Casas demanding an end to all violence.

And in Mexico City, where at least 6,000 demonstrators marched Friday, an estimated 3,000 protesters rallied outside the Interior Ministry to demand the firing of Interior Minister Patrocinio Gonzalez Blanco, who until recently was the governor of Chiapas.

The protesters blame Gonzalez for past brutal campaigns against Chiapas’ large Indian population.

The Mexico City blast, which injured five people and damaged about 20 businesses, occurred about 1 a.m. Saturday in the underground parking garage of a shopping center.

Around dawn, a grenade exploded outside government offices in the tourist city of Acapulco. No injuries were reported.

The Zapatista Army claims to have an urban front, which earlier in the week vowed to attack “nerve centers of the oligarchy.” Authorities said they were beefing up police patrols and other security at airports and other government installations.

“People are afraid that (violence) could extend to other parts of the republic and that this could turn out to be a more organized group,” said author Homero Aridjis, president of the Group of 100, an environmental organization.

In a report late Friday, the Interior Ministry conceded that the guerrillas are not a largely foreign-inspired movement and that the leaders are mainly home-grown.