CNN
May 18, 2002

General wants Mexican troops out of Chiapas

                 SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico (AP) -- A general who spent
                 eight years behind bars as Mexico's "last prisoner of conscience" called on
                 President Vicente Fox to remove remaining government troops from Chiapas
                 and let the Zapatista rebels live in peace.

                 Visiting Chiapas for a human rights forum, Brig. Gen. Jose Francisco Gallardo
                 asked what was stopping Fox's government from letting Indian communities in
                 Mexico's southernmost state "live free, independent and peaceful lives."

                 Gallardo was arrested in 1993 after writing an article calling for a human rights
                 ombudsman in the military. A military tribunal later sentenced him to 23 years in
                 prison on dubious charges of corruption, illegally amassing a fortune and destroying
                 files.

                 After years of protests from human rights groups, Fox, who ended seven decades
                 of Institutional Revolutionary Party rule by winning the presidency in 2000, ordered
                 Gallardo's release in February.

                 Fox made bringing a peace settlement to troubled Chiapas a top priority. Zapatista
                 guerrillas staged a bloody 12-day rebellion in the name of Indian rights and
                 socialism in 1994, but since then their conflict with the government has been
                 mostly a war of words.

                 Fox has removed hundreds of troops from Chiapas, closed seven army bases built
                 to surround Zapatista strongholds, freed dozens of rebel prisoners and sent a
                 Zapatista-backed Indian Rights bill to Congress. But the rebels refused to resume
                 formal peace talks with the government after legislators watered down the bill.

                 Army officials say several hundred troops are still stationed around Chiapas, mostly
                 to prevent violence between Zapatista supporters and right-wing paramilitary forces
                 and to help implement social programs. The exact number of soldiers in the area
                 has never been made public.

                 A Fox spokesman declined to comment on Gallardo's comments Friday.

                  Copyright 2002 The Associated Press.