MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexico's former ruling party on Thursday accused
                  President Vicente Fox of hurting the image of Mexico's army and possibly
                  setting the stage for more violence by unilaterally withdrawing troops in Chiapas
                  state.

                  Dulce Maria Sauri, president of the Institutional Revolutionary Party that held
                  Mexico's presidency for 71 years, said the masked Zapatista rebels were likely to
                  use Fox's policy openings just to play to the media.

                  "While withdrawing the army, if serious measures aren't taken to contain
                  quarrels in the communities of Chiapas, if there is no law and order ... the social
                  fabric could break down and set the stage for confrontations," Sauri told foreign
                  correspondents here.

                  "Unfortunately, in the last few days, we have begun to see instances of this
                  out-of-control situation," Sauri said, referring to a bloody confrontation between
                  ruling-party and opposition forces in one Chiapas town this week.

                  Sauri's party, known as the PRI, lost to Fox's National Action Party in the July
                  2000 elections.

                  When in power, PRI presidents first beat the rebels into isolated pockets with
                  troops and then declared a cease-fire while local PRI officials encouraged
                  anti-rebel vigilante gangs. The conflict settled into an uneasy truce after peace
                  talks broke down.

                  Fox closed a third army base on Wednesday, leaving four of the seven military
                  bases that the Zapatista have demanded closed as a condition to restarting peace
                  talks.

                  The rebels have accused the army of abusing the state's largely Indian population
                  and aiding vigilantes.

                  Officials say they will take further steps to build trust with the rebels, but Fox
                  has indicated he may not be able to meet all the rebel demands for troop
                  pullbacks because of his responsibility to ensure public safety.

                  Sauri praised Mexico's army, which is unusual in Latin America because it has
                  steered clear of politics and coups. She said the military "can't feel good" about
                  the often-humiliating withdrawals under the shouts of protesters.

                  "The army looked like it had been insulted, intimidated, overridden," Sauri said.

                  Fox disputed her claims during a visit Friday to the central Mexican city of
                  Tlaxcala, saying "there is true consent among each one of the members of the
                  Mexican Army."

                  "They don't want to be there," much less be involved in a confrontation with
                  Indian communities, Fox said. Some of the communities had protested daily
                  outside the bases.

                  Sauri also said PRI legislators would not rush to approve a bill on Indian rights
                  and autonomy that Fox has forwarded to congress in hopes of meeting rebel
                  demands. She said the party had "concerns" about the way the bill was written
                  and its potential wide-ranging effects.

                  She said rebel leader Subcomandante Marcos, who regularly ridiculed and
                  insulted her party's leaders, may continue to play to the spotlights rather than get
                  down to serious negotiation.

                  "The Subcomandante is what he's been from the start, a media personality."

                  Meanwhile, Marcos sent a letter to the media to announce that rebels plan to hold
                  a march Friday in the Chiapas' city of San Cristobal de las Casas to demand the
                  government meet all conditions set by the rebels to restart talks. Besides closing
                  the bases and enacting an Indian rights bill, rebels are demanding the release of
                  nearly 100 imprisoned Zapatistas.

                  Left-leaning organizations also plan to march in Mexico City in solidarity with the
                  rebels.