Camacho Solis Quits as Chiapas Envoy, Drops Out of Politics

Chiapas peace envoy Manuel Camacho Solis ended months of controversy over his alleged presidential aspirations by announcing Thursday that he is retiring as a negotiator and leaving politics--at least for now.

Before reading his letter of resignation at a news conference, Camacho Solis defended himself against the attacks of his own party’s presidential candidate, Ernesto Zedillo. The candidate had accused Camacho Solis of disillusioning the country by creating false expectations that a peace agreement had been reached in March. Camacho Solis’ 32-point initiative was rejected last weekend by Chiapas rebels.

“I have decided to retire from public life to family life,” Camacho Solis read from his resignation letter to President Carlos Salinas de Gortari. “I have further decided to stay out of politics throughout the rest of this administration,” which ends in December.

The statement appeared to show that Zedillo and other Camacho Solis opponents had finally managed to remove the popular former Mexico City mayor from the national stage. Camacho Solis had been perceived as a threat that could split the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) since he was passed over as a candidate for president in November.

His efforts at finding a peaceful solution to the Jan. 1 peasant uprising that left at least 145 people dead in the southern state of Chiapas overshadowed the campaign of slain presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio.

Some PRI political analysts even openly accused Camacho Solis of creating the climate of uncertainty that led to Colosio’s assassination March 23 in Tijuana. Camacho Solis was jeered by crowds outside Colosio’s wake.

The weak campaign of Colosio’s successor, Zedillo, once again fueled speculation of a Camacho Solis presidential run. A well-known political columnist wrote last week that several top Cabinet ministers had threatened to resign unless Camacho Solis was removed from the spotlight.

The rebel rejection of the peace proposal provided Zedillo with the opportunity to attack Camacho Solis, publicly calling his initiative a failure and leading a march to demand an end to the Chiapas conflict.

Camacho Solis said that an initiative that had maintained the fragile cease-fire in Chiapas could hardly be called a failure. “All I have done is try to serve my country,” he said.