BY MORRIS THOMPSON
 Herald World Staff

 MEXICO CITY -- Mexico moved a step closer to resuming peace talks in the seven-year conflict over Indian rights in Chiapas on Friday, when the government formally closed two army bases in that impoverished southern state.

 The bases are the last of seven military posts that Zapatista rebels demanded be closed as a precondition for renewed negotiations. The rebels also insisted that
 Zapatista prisoners held by the government be released, and President Vicente Fox has announced that the last of the prisoners will be freed soon.

 But the rebels' remaining demand -- that the Mexican Congress approve constitutional guarantees of Indian rights -- is the biggest stumbling block, and it's not clear
 whether peace talks will resume.

 Amendments to the Constitution also would require approval by a simple majority of Mexico's 31 state legislatures, but the Zapatista leader known as Subcommander Marcos apparently is willing to resume talks if Congress approves the measures.

 Fox has made reaching a peace agreement a priority, and the issue dominated the national stage from Fox's Dec. 1 inauguration until Marcos and other Zapatista
 commanders returned to Chiapas last month after a march to Mexico City. Since then, public and news media attention has shifted to tax increases and other financial policies that Fox has proposed.

 During a ceremony at the village of Guadalupe Tepeyac, Chiapas, one of the sites where a military installation was shut down, government peace commissioner Luis
 Alvarez said the closures demonstrated ``a desire to achieve a just and honorable peace in Chiapas through dialogue.''

 The base is of particular symbolic importance as it is located just outside La Realidad, where Subcommander Marcos and many other EZLN leaders are based.

 This is a historic day because that place has a strong significance in the Chiapas conflict,'' said President Fox, who was on a state visit to Canada. ``Today the war
 stage ends and that of development of indigenous communities starts,'' he said.

 The insurgents' envoy, Commander Germán, made no comments but joined Alvarez in certifying the closure of the seven bases.

 Herald wire services contributed to this report.

                                    © 2001