Salazar: 'Zapatistas can be won over'

Mr Salazar wants to end six-years of conflict

The newly elected governor of Mexico's southern state of Chiapas, Pablo Salazar, has pledged to bring peace to the region by turning the Zapatista rebels into allies of the state.

Mr Salazar said his government was committed to finding a peaceful solution to the state's six-year conflict between the Zapatistas, and military and government-aligned paramilitaries.

"One of the priorities is to take the gloves off the government, and get out of the ring," said Mr Salazar, speaking to the BBC.

Religious, social and economic divisions in the state have been made worse by the armed Zapatista rebellion, with violence claiming many lives and destroying communities.

The army presence in the state will be reduced

Mr Salazar says he will also work to withdraw the army from the heavily militarised conflict zone in the state's central highlands.

"We have to create conditions for talks with the communities and the core of the Zapatistas and their leadership, and look for ways of winning them over," he said.

Rebels want action

However, Mr Salazar warned that the peace process would not be easy.

"The way to gain credibility with the Zapatistas is with acts, and not words," he said, adding that he believed the rebels would wait for the government to make the first moves towards talks.

The communist Zapatistas began their uprising in 1994 in support of greater rights for Mexico's Indian community, and in protest at the spread of capitalism and free trade through Mexico.

Although open fighting lasted only two weeks, conflict between the Mexican army, supported by armed pro-government militia, and the Zapatistas, has rumbled on.

The Zapatistas want to see action from the government

Peace talks ended without agreement in 1996. Since then, Mr Salazar says the peace process has become more complicated.

"Today, it is going to be much more difficult to create conditions for negotiation because one must rebuild all the bases and conditions of the peace process," he said.

However, Mr Salazar said he wanted to build on the same spirit of reconciliation that allowed him to form his new coalition government.

"We've made an alliance of parties, and now we want our victory to help us make an alliance between the government and society," he said.

Mandate for change

Mr Salazar made his comments after having his mandate for peace strongly endorsed by recent polls.

Sami David, the defeated PRI candidate

Seen as a reformer, his victory ends 70 years of rule in Chiapas by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

Observers say his resounding victory - beating off the challenge from the PRI's Sami David by a clear margin of 13% - shows that voters are sick of the PRI's ruling elite.

Some accuse the PRI of deliberately dragging out the conflict with the Zapatistas in an attempt to cling on to power.

Mr Salazar says his peace drive also has pragmatic motives.

Unless the government ends the expensive war, it cannot afford desperately needed social programmes for the state's poverty stricken areas.