Much of the money came from a fugitive financier with close ties to the Salinas family, and, it is speculated, drug traffickers. Madrazo, too, has filled the jails with his opponents. Neighboring Yucatan has been on edge since PRI power-broker Victor Cervera Pacheco seized the governorship in an election marred by fraud. Tensions are also running high in Oaxaca and Puebla. In Morelos, a state on Mexico City's southern border governed by a former army colonel, state police recently fired into a demonstration, killing one person and wounding several more.
Mexican presidents have enormous powers, both formal and as de facto leaders of the ruling party.
Yet Zedillo, who seeks to avoid further splits in his party as it faces congressional elections next year, has tolerated corruption, electoral fraud, and repression by PRI governors. As frustrated peasants respond by taking up arms, Zedillo has upped the ante by calling out the army. Now it is not only Chiapas that is militarized, but Oaxaca, Tabasco and Guerrero. The rebel groups pose no credible military threat to the government. Their agrarian base is only a quarter of the population, and shrinking.