Mexican rebel leader says ruling party not ready to change

The Miami Herald May 20, 1999 Mexican rebel leader says ruling party not ready to change

LA REALIDAD, Mexico -- (AP) -- The leader of Mexico's Zapatista rebels,
Subcomandante Marcos, has dismissed election reforms by the ruling party,
saying an upcoming presidential vote will not be any more democratic. Whoever
the victor, he said, his movement would continue to push for Indian rights.

The ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, has decided for the first time
to hold primaries to select a candidate to run for president in July 2000 elections,
instead of following the tradition of having the incumbent -- in this case President
Ernesto Zedillo -- pick his successor.

In a rare interview with a foreign reporter, the Zapatistas' Marcos said Tuesday
that Zedillo was just trying to appear that he is expanding democracy -- while the
system will still allow his political machine to control the choice of nominee.

The man seen as Zedillo's personal pick, former interior secretary Francisco
Labastida, got a boost Wednesday when two potential opponents, Veracruz Gov.
Miguel Aleman and Social Development Secretary Esteban Moctezuma,
announced they would not run in the Nov. 7 primaries.

That leaves two other major challengers: Tabasco state Gov. Roberto Madrazo
and former Puebla Gov. Manuel Bartlett, who is also a former interior secretary.

Marcos, wearing his trademark black ski mask and holding an AR-15 assault rifle
on his lap, said Zedillo's free-market cadre within the PRI is determined to put a
like-minded candidate in place rather than an old-style populist favoring big
government, which would describe most of the other contenders.

The president is also under pressure to keep differences between the two PRI
factions from exploding -- as many Mexicans believed happened in 1994 when
PRI candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio was assassinated at a campaign rally.

``The main goal is not to choose a candidate, but to choose one without
bloodshed,'' Marcos said.

Marcos said his Zapatista National Revolutionary Army will continue to make the
same demand of the next president -- greater justice for Mexico's poor Indians.

``Our demands will not change,'' he said. ``The attitude of the Zapatistas toward
this new head of federal government will be the same regardless of which political
party it is.''