By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

          SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico (AP) -- The new head
          prosecutor of Mexico's Chiapas state has pledged to free more than 100
          jailed rebels and their sympathizers.

          The announcement on Thursday is a main demand of the Zapatista rebels
          and is part of the government's efforts to bring them to the negotiating
          table after a four-year impasse.

          However, some fear it could cause resentment among those demanding
          the same kind of amnesty for imprisoned paramilitaries who have clashed
          with Zapatista sympathizers in the highly polarized state.

          Prosecutor Mariano Herran Salvati said he would free at least 103
          people jailed on charges ranging from murder to robbery in connection
          with the Zapatistas' brief armed uprising on Jan. 1, 1994 in the name of
          Indian rights.

          Herran Salvati did not announce a date for the releases but said it would
          be soon and that there could be more.

          But Herran Salvati said he would not grant amnesty to imprisoned
          paramilitaries. They include 45 people serving 35 years in prison for the
          1997 massacre of rebel sympathizers in the village of Acteal, as well as
          11 members of a vigilante group charged with evicting rebel sympathizers
          at gunpoint and destroying homes in the village of Yajalon on Aug. 3.

          The move fulfills a promise made by Gov. Pablo Salazar, who took office
          last week and named Herran Salvati, the country's former drug czar, to
          be the state's top prosecutor.

          This summer, Salazar and President Vicente Fox ousted the Institutional
          Revolutionary Party, which had held Mexico's presidency and the
          Chiapas governorship for more than 70 years.

          Both promised to make peace with the Chiapas rebels. Hours after
          taking office Dec. 1, Fox ordered the closing of military checkpoints in
          Chiapas and later sent an Indian rights bill to Congress -- two other rebel
          demands.

          A day after Fox's inauguration, rebel leader Subcomandante Marcos said
          his fighters were ready to return to peace talks, which have been stalled
          since 1996.