Chiapas Negotiations Mired in Presidential Politics : Mexico: The two leading presidential candidates have taken a hard line toward the Zapatista rebels.

The resignation of Chiapas peace envoy Manuel Camacho Solis is a troubling sign that, in this presidential election year, politicking has taken precedence over finding a solution to the conflict in southern Mexico, analysts said Friday.

Further, they expressed concern that the risk of a return to armed confrontation may have increased because of the hard line the two leading presidential candidates have taken toward the rebels, who rejected a government peace proposal last week.

To minimize that risk, President Carlos Salinas de Gortari announced that the federal government will fulfill the social and economic commitments in the 32-point proposal and named a former Camacho Solis aide as liaison to coordinate that effort.

“The idea is to keep up the political and social offensive in order to make any return to fighting politically costly for them,” a senior government official said.

The move was meant to help calm fears that the cease-fire in effect since mid-January might not withstand the political fireworks created by Camacho Solis’ resignation.

Camacho Solis said late Thursday that he felt forced to quit as peace commissioner because of harsh criticism from ruling party presidential candidate Ernesto Zedillo.

That criticism did not end with Camacho Solis’ resignation: In an early morning radio interview Friday, Zedillo blasted him for having created false expectations of a peace settlement with the Zapatista National Liberation Army. “I find it quite worrisome that the ex-commissioner would link his resignation to my statements,” Zedillo said. “I frankly have no idea what is his political motive for doing so.”

What many political analysts find especially worrisome is that the uprising, which began Jan. 1 and appeared to be headed toward a peaceful resolution, has become part of the election campaign and, more specifically, subject to what increasingly looks like a personal rivalry between Zedillo and Camacho Solis.

“This is extremely dangerous,” said Carlos Ramirez, political columnist for the business newspaper El Financiero. “This is a fragile peace.”

Camacho Solis’ resignation, combined with the withdrawal of mediator Bishop Samuel Ruiz, leaves a vacuum that concerns many Mexicans. “We have lost the mediators who the Zapatistas trust,” political analyst Denise Dresser said. “This is really bad for everybody.”

The rebels have asked for a new round of talks that would include members of national civic organizations with an agenda of national issues. They rejected the government peace proposal as too narrow because it promised mainly local solutions to economic, social and political problems that they said are present across the country.

In his resignation speech Thursday, Camacho Solis appeared to assign his tasks to others who will continue the work of finding peaceful solutions to the problems that led to the uprising. But many of those responsible for solving the conflicts are members of the same Chiapas state power structure that has been unable to resolve the conflicts for generations.

“Camacho had to give the impression that he was leaving everything in order,” Ramirez said. “But a state governor does not have the influence in the federal government needed to respond to the Zapatista demands.”

Salinas named Hector Hernandez Llamas, a statistician who worked with Camacho Solis when he was mayor of Mexico City, as liaison with the Chiapas government.

Ramirez holds little hope that any agreement can be reached before the federal elections Aug. 21. The rebels have indicated they will only believe their government, which has a long history of voter fraud, is committed to democratic change if those elections are clean.

“The Zapatistas are holding the elections hostage,” Ramirez said. That almost assures that Chiapas will become more of a campaign issue as the election approaches.

One leading candidate, Diego Fernandez de Cevallos of the National Action Party, spoke out strongly against negotiating with “people in masks,” as he called the ski-masked Zapatistas.

Zedillo’s feud with Camacho Solis has also pushed him toward the faction in his Institutional Revolutionary Party that favored a military solution to the uprising. “He is acting like an autocrat, and he hasn’t even been elected yet,” analyst Dresser said.