TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico (AP) -- The head prosecutor of Mexico's
                  Chiapas state freed 17 jailed Zapatista rebels Saturday in the latest move to woo
                  rebels to the negotiating table and end a seven-year conflict.

                  The releases -- the first of 103 prisoners that Prosecutor Mariano Herran Salvati
                  has said he will free -- met a condition of the Zapatista rebels to restart peace
                  talks, which have been stalled since 1996. Herran Salvati did not say when the
                  rest would be released.

                  The rebels led a brief uprising on January 1, 1994, in the name of Indian rights.
                  Since then, rebel sympathizers and paramilitary groups have often sparred,
                  forcing many poor Indians to flee communities across the state.

                  Zapatista rebel fighter Misael Perez Galvez was among the 17 prisoners who
                  walked out of the Cerro Hueco prison Saturday and into the noon sun. After
                  serving five years for participating in the uprising, she was greeted by
                  government dignitaries who called her a freedom fighter.

                  "Today for me, a new Mexico has been born with my freedom," Perez said. "I
                  believe the freedom of my Zapatista companions is a fairly clear sign, and if this
                  continues we are doing well toward reinitiating peace talks."

                  The move fulfills a promise made by Gov. Pablo Salazar, who took office
                  December 8.

                  "We want to open the gates to be able to close a painful chapter in Chiapas," said
                  Salazar, who met with the released prisoners during a small ceremony outside
                  the prison.

                  This summer, Salazar and President Vicente Fox ousted the Institutional
                  Revolutionary Party, which had held Mexico's presidency and the Chiapas
                  governorship for more than 70 years.

                  Both promised to make peace with the rebels. Hours after taking office
                  December 1, Fox ordered the closing of military checkpoints in Chiapas and later
                  sent an Indian rights bill to Congress -- two other rebel demands. A day after
                  Fox's inauguration, rebel leader Subcomandante Marcos said his fighters were
                  ready to return to peace talks.

                  However, some fear the prisoner release could cause resentment among those
                  demanding the same kind of amnesty for imprisoned paramilitaries.

                  Herran Salvati has said he would not grant amnesty to imprisoned paramilitaries.
                  They include 45 people serving 35 years in prison for the 1997 massacre of rebel
                  sympathizers in the village of Acteal, as well as 11 members of a vigilante group
                  charged with evicting rebel supporters at gunpoint and destroying homes in the
                  village of Yajalon on August 3.

                  Copyright 2000 The Associated Press.