The mysterious disappearance of a former Mexican presidential candidate has sparked fear that nobody is safe from relentless kidnapping and rampant drug violence.

The Zapatista rebels embarked on a historic transformation today at a mass meeting intended to take them out of their jungle hideouts and into the cut-throat world of Mexican politics.

Five people have died after eating poisonous mushrooms in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas over the past week, doctors and hospital officials said today.

A judge in Mexico’s southern state of Chiapas has released six paramilitary members convicted of taking part in the 1997 massacre of 45 rebel sympathisers, sparking fear among refugees who had fled the bloodbath.

More than 20 prisoners sewed their lips shut yesterday to pressure officials to release them from Cerro Hueco jail in Mexico.