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Pablo Salazar, a 46-year-old Nazarene, won election as the candidate of a six-party alliance and took office in December as governor. Salazar's image as a man of the people and foe of corruption made him a popular Chiapas senator who frequently clashed with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Mexico's ruling party until last year. Those clashes led him to break from the PRI, to which he belonged when elected senator in the mid-1990s.

Both right-wing PRI supporters and left-wing Zapatistas seem to favor Salazar, in part because of his reputation for fairness to all sides. The Zapatista National Liberation Army is a leftist insurgency in negotiations with the national government over conditions in southern Mexico, the poorest part of the country.

Many evangelical rightists are moving to the political center as they put their confidence in Salazar's government. "All the evangelical brothers voted for him because he'd bring change and would pay heed to their needs," said José Manuel Díaz Díaz, assistant counsel for the State Evangelical Defense Committee of Chiapas (CEDECH) based in San Cristobal de Las Casas. "They have faith that Pablo can listen to their needs and support them."

Chiapan evangelicals want the state's help to stop widespread harassment and violence by traditionalist Catholics and local bosses, which has included expelling evangelicals from their communities. They also want an end to politically motivated Zapatista violence.

One of Their Own
Evangelicals see Salazar as one of their own who, unlike other Chiapans who have risen to power, hasn't forgotten his roots. He was born to poor peasants in Soyaló, a Chiapan village on the edge of tribal lands for the Tzotzil (Mayan Indians). His parents converted through the ministry of Bible translators when he was a toddler. Salazar came to faith in Christ as a teenager. After he completed law school, Salazar became the first lawyer to defend indigenous Chiapan evangelicals expelled from their communities.

Salazar is "a person of trust and integrity," said Richard Luna of Open Doors, which ministers to the persecuted church around the world. "Here's a guy who's been a fighter for evangelicals. We know he knows the issues."

"I'm the first non-Catholic governor in Mexico's history," Salazar said at a press conference in Austin, Texas. "I know very well the social processes that have brought intolerance problems.

"I have the capacity and am ready to sit down at the table with evangelical pastors and Catholic bishops, who are my friends. I'm very confident we'll be able to resolve through dialogue those problems that still remain."

He believes the government deserves some blame for allowing the marginalization of Chiapas. "I'm a man of peace who worked four years in dialogue with the Zapatistas in Chiapas," he adds. "I'm not anti-Zapatista. Neither am I Zapatista. If the war came from the hands of the government, I'm very optimistic that peace will come from the hands of that same government."

Reformed Church in America missionary Vern Sterk describes Salazar, his best friend for 30 years, as the best thing to happen to Chiapas in a long time. Sterk says Salazar has kept his promises during his first 100 days in office.

Salazar met with evangelical and traditionalist Catholic leaders to help mediate a peaceful resolution to the expulsion issue. Visiting Justo Sierra—from which traditionalists had violently expelled 25 evangelical families—Salazar brought food, promised help for rebuilding homes, and assured evangelicals that the law would be enforced.

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May 21 2001, Vol. 45, No. 7