Security Worries Stall Mexico Peace Talks

Peace talks between the government and the Zapatista National Liberation Army stalled before they began Thursday because hundreds of rebel supporters were gathered in the plaza of this village in violation of security agreements established for the negotiations.

Government delegates refused to begin talks until the crowds were replaced by the civilian security forces that both sides had agreed upon earlier this month.

The security measures are necessary “to assure the healthy development of the process of dialogue,” an Interior Ministry communique said.

The statement was released six hours after talks were scheduled to begin on the outdoor basketball court of this poor rural village, surroundings calculated to provide a reminder of the misery that caused Indian peasants to take up arms on New Year’s Day, 1994.

Negotiations got off to a rocky start as thousands of rebel supporters were trucked here Wednesday night.

Many withdrew after government officials objected to their presence, but hundreds stayed, pouring into the plaza, two blocks from the site of the talks. That was a violation of security provisions reached by both sides.

The incident showed how easily negotiations could be interrupted, despite the repeated insistence of the government and the rebels that they are willing to talk out their differences.

The joint legislative committee that organized the peace talks between the Zapatistas and the government warned, even before the talks began, that resolving the problems behind the 16-month conflict could take a year or more of discussions.

“We are barely constructing the foundations of the building,” committee leader Juan Guerra said of the scheduled three days of talks aimed at creating a negotiating framework. The talks that follow will take months, he predicted.

If they produce agreements that require changing laws, as expected, those modifications will be subject to approval of the legislature, which recesses April 30 and does not resume sessions until September.

Rebel leaders and the government reached a peace agreement after 12 days of talks at the colonial cathedral in San Cristobal de las Casas last year.

However, grass-roots Zapatistas rejected that accord--which dealt mainly with Indian rights and local economic and political issues--as too limited.

The current talks--organized by the legislature and mediated by a panel of citizens--are expected to include civic groups and state government representatives and to address broader issues of political reform.