Candidate for Governor in Chiapas Injured

The top opposition candidate for Chiapas governor was critically injured in a mysterious highway collision Monday, stoking political tensions.

Amado Avendano Figueroa, a 60-year-old lawyer who has represented Indian peasants in land disputes, was injured and three others were killed when a truck struck their campaign car in a remote area of the state, police said. Avendano was reported in critical but stable condition. The candidate’s son was also injured.

The state attorney general’s office said the crash occurred after the truck, which was traveling too fast, moved onto the wrong side of the highway. The truck had no license plate and was not carrying cargo. Its driver fled after the crash.

Avendano is a co-owner of the San Cristobal newspaper Tiempo, and he won international attention for obtaining the first interview with the masked guerrilla leader Subcommander Marcos, who led a Jan. 1 rebellion in Chiapas.

The candidate of the left-leaning Democratic Revolutionary Party, Avendano was waging a feisty campaign against Eduardo Robledo Rincon, 47, of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, a federal senator considered the favorite to win the Aug. 21 gubernatorial election.