And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 22:28:51 EDT Subject: Mexico Rebel Leader Denies Reforms Mexico Rebel Leader Denies Reforms .c The Associated Press By MICHELLE RAY ORTIZ LA REALIDAD, Mexico (AP) -- The leader of Mexico's Zapatista rebels 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' Subcomandante 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.'' AP-NY-05-19-99 2228EDT Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without prior written authority of The Associated Press. Reprinted under the fair use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
