MEXICO CITY (AP) -- A sweeping Indian rights bill meant tohelp end the Zapatista rebellion in southern Mexico has gained its first major victory.
Mexico's Senate approved the proposed
constitutional change in a unanimous
vote Wednesday.
The bill is meant to enact a 1996 agreement
between the government and the
Zapatista National Liberation Army signed
in the Indian village of San Andres Larrainzar. The five-year delay in
the bill has been the main sticking point in restarting stalled peace talks.
Former President Ernesto Zedillo tried
to change the proposal, saying it
threatened the country's unity and legal
framework by allowing Mexico's 62
Indian groups to use traditional laws
and political practices to govern their communities.
New President Vicente Fox, pushing to settle the rebellion, made the bill his first proposal to Congress in December.
It was not clear if the Zapatistas fully accept the new draft; the version they supported was change by Senate commissions. But Sen. Jesus Ortega, said he believed that "the spirit of San Andres is preserved.''
The measure will still have to approved
twice by the Senate, then go to the lower house of congress and then have
to be endorsed by a majority of
state legislatures. The agreement on
Indian rights was the first of several
planned agreements between the government
and rebels leading to a final peace
treaty, though it is often considered
the key issue for the largely Indian
Zapatistas.
More than 145 people died during two weeks
of fighting immediately after the Zapatistas emerged from the jungle to
seize several towns in Chiapas state on Jan. 1, 1994. A cease-fire has
held since then and the rebels have moved increasingly toward political
rather than military action.
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action.