Mexican mayor arrested on Chiapas massacre charges

Justice officials in Mexico say they have arrested a village mayor in the southern state of Chiapas on charges that he supplied the weapons used for the massacre of forty-five unarmed Indians last Monday.

The mayor Jacinto Arias Cruz is a member of President Zedillo's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party; the Zapatista rebels, who are active in Chiapas, have already accused Mr Zedillo of responsibility for the massacre by allowing heavily-armed pro-government paramilitary troops to run riot in the state.

The Mexican government denies any involvement, and has arrested a number of other suspects.

Correspondents say the massacre was the worst of a series in Chiapas, where many people sympathise with the Zapatistsas' fight for the rights of indigenous people.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service