An Opening for Chiapas

Pablo Salazar, a former Sunday school teacher, pulled off a political miracle last Sunday, defeating the candidate of Mexico’s powerful Party of the Institutional Revolution in the race for governor of the conflict-torn state of Chiapas. The victory formed a spectrum from right to left.

Salazar unified the state’s opposition forces with a conciliatory program that covered the expectations of eight political parties. His success, coming on the heels of the PRI’s loss of the national presidency in July, gives the poor and troubled southern state its best opportunity for peace in more than six years of violence.

Peace talks between President Ernesto Zedillo’s regime in Mexico City and the Zapatista rebels stalled in 1996 when government negotiators refused to honor an accord that would have expanded the rights of Indian communities. Salazar was a member of a federal commission that sought to ratify the accord. The Zapatistas endorsed the deal, but the federal government balked, claiming it would compromise national sovereignty.

In their electoral campaigns, both President-elect Vicente Fox and Salazar promised the voters that ending the violence in Chiapas would be a top priority in their respective administrations. But rebuilding the state won’t be easy.

Chiapas has long been a battleground among landless peasants, private armies and hapless government forces. Salazar, who won the governorship 53% to 47%, has to regain control of a territory that resembles a society run by feudal lords. His immediate challenge is to restore the rule of law and disband all paramilitary forces, which he can do only with the support of the landowners who formed the militias to defend their properties.

The Roman Catholic hierarchy now should set aside its heroic attempts at mediation in Chiapas and let the politicians seek a compromise and a leader. Salazar clearly fits the required profile. Working first as a teacher, then as a lawyer committed to popular causes and, later on, as a federal senator with membership in the congressional peace commission, Salazar knows the state’s problems and how to begin solving them.

A bold step would be to call on Fox, once he is in office, to reduce the army presence in Chiapas. But before that can happen, Salazar will have to convince the Zapatistas to renounce their armed struggle and transform themselves into a nonviolent political party willing to participate against other parties in democratic elections.

The task ahead is formidable, but Salazar knew what he was getting into. Now he must deliver.