"The climate of confrontation has ended," Mexico's new Interior Minister, Mr Francisco Labastida, announced on Monday, hours before an unarmed woman, baby in arms, was shot dead by state police in Ocosingo, Chiapas.
Ms Guadalupe Mendez Lopez was fatally wounded during Monday's march as 6,000 indigenous people demanded the withdrawal of the Mexican army from Chiapas, the implementation of the San Andres peace accord and the dismantling of paramilitary groups that operate throughout the region.
Mr Labastida announced the detention of all 26 police present at the killing, promising to apply "the full force of the law" for those implicated in the crime. Ms Lopez's 18-month-old baby and a teenager were also injured, but their condition was described as "stable".
"The government has opted for a military solution in Chiapas," warned Mr Gilberto Lopez y Rivas, spokesman for the government's multi-party mediation commission, COCOPA. "President Ernesto Zedillo is the main obstacle to restarting peace negotiations with the EZLN," he added.
The Ocosingo march was one of dozens held in Mexico and around the world, as over 100,000 people demanded an end to the escalating army aggression against Zapatista villages. The current stage of the conflict began with the Acteal massacre on December 22nd, when 45 people were killed by paramilitaries acting under orders from local government officials with weapons supplied by state police.
The Mexican army immediately began to apply the 1996 Law of Firearms and Explosives, permitting troops to enter and search villages at will, despite a prior Law of Dialogue (1995) which orders troops to stay out of Chiapas villages at all times.
The army has made 44 incursions into 30 rebel villages since January 1st, forcing hundreds of people to flee to the hills or face down the heavily armed soldiers. On Sunday last 16 women were injured by soldiers who beat them with rifle butts.
In the aftermath of Monday's killing, the Mexican army moved even more troops into the conflict zone "to prevent further bloodshed" and pledged to continue its search for weapons. In an effort to regain the initiative the government-linked Human Rights Commission (CNDH), the Health Minister, Mr Juan Ramon de la Fuente, and the new governor, Mr Roberto Albores Guillen, visited Zapatista refugees in the Chenalho area last weekend. On the morning of their visit, army and police roadblocks set up close to refugee camps suddenly disappeared.
The government delegation gained entry to several villages but all aid was refused except for emergency medical help for the 8,000 refugees.
"Mr Governor, we don't need your money, your crumbs or your second-hand trousers. What we want is justice and peace," said Mr Domingo Paciencia, head of Polho's Autonomous Zapatista Municipal Council. "These gifts are gone in a few days but the hunger, poverty and illness stay with us forever."