Mexico Frees 38 Suspected Guerrillas

The government late Friday freed more than half of 70 prisoners held on suspicion of participating in a New Year’s rebellion, saying the release was another step in its efforts to restore calm to southern Mexico.

The 38 suspected guerrillas detained by the army walked out of the Cerro Hueco state penitentiary under “provisional liberty,” said Gilberto Ocana Mendez, director of Chiapas prisons.

He did not elaborate, saying only that the releases were not tied to a government-offered amnesty to rebels of the Zapatista National Liberation Army who surrender arms.

Also Friday, officials announced that a military prosecutor would open a criminal investigation into the deaths of five rebel suspects who were lined up and shot in the head in Ocosingo during the fighting.

And the former director of state security in Chiapas, fired for his part in failing to prevent the rebellion in the impoverished state, has been arrested on charges of drug and arms trafficking, kidnaping and corruption.

An estimated 2,000 Zapatista rebels rose up Jan. 1, declaring they were fighting to improve the living standard of the poor, neglected Indian population in Chiapas. More than 100 people were killed in two weeks of combat with 15,000 army troops, who pushed the rebels into mountainous jungles.