GUADALUPE TEPEYAC, Mexico (Reuters) -- The Mexican army finished
                  closing seven bases in the conflict-torn state of Chiapas on Friday in a key step
                  toward the resumption of peace talks with Zapatista rebels.

                  The Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) took up arms in the
                  impoverished southern state in 1994, saying it was defending the rights of
                  Mexico's 10 million Indians.

                  Before the rebels would agree to resuming stalled peace talks with the
                  government, they demanded the closure of the seven army bases, along with the
                  liberation of Zapatista prisoners and Congress' passage of an Indian rights bill.

                  "With these actions, the federal government is advancing toward meeting the
                  demands made by the EZLN for renewing dialogue and peace negotiations,"
                  government peace commissioner Luis H. Alvarez said.

                  Alvarez was on hand for the formal closure of bases in Guadalupe Tepeyac
                  -- about 12 miles (20 km) from the main rebel stronghold in La Realidad --
                  and Rio Euseba. Five other bases have been closed since President Vicente
                  Fox took office on December 1.

                  President Vicente Fox's National Action Party (PAN) ended 71 years of single-
                  party rule in Mexico by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) when he took
                  office last December, and he has given high priority to resolving the Chiapas conflict.

                  One of his first off?was to send the Indian rights bill to Congress, where masked
                  Zapatista leaders last month ???ion in the lower house, calling for the bill's
                  passage.

                  Most Zapatista prisoners have been freed by the federal government and the state
                  of Chiapas. Of the approximately 100 who had been held, 11 remain behind bars
                  in Chiapas, the Gulf of Mexico state of Tabasco and the central state of
                  Queretaro.

                  The EZLN guerrilla war lasted only about 10 days in early 1994, but peace talks
                  stalled, and the state has seen a tense standoff between rebels and the military.

                  Violence also continues to plague Chiapas, a state with a large indigenous
                  population and simmering disputes over land and resources that often pit
                  Zapatista supporters against backers of the PRI or the state's powerful
                  landowners.

                  On Thursday, eight Chiapas peasants died in an ambush, officials said.

                  In a radio interview on Friday, Gov. Pablo Salazar said officials were
                  investigating three possible motives for the crime. One theory was that it was
                  part of a long-standing rivalry between three groups with conflicting land claims,
                  he said.

                  Salazar said there was no reason to believe the massacre was related to the army
                  withdrawal.

                     Copyright 2001 Reuters.