MEXICO SEEKS TO KEEP MILITARY IN CHECK

MEXICO CITY, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo's calls
for the armed forces to respect the law were aimed at stamping out growing
signs of corruption and rebellion in the ranks, political analysts said on
Thursday.

The calls came after weeks of an unusually open protest by a group of
officers facing insubordination charges who allege the military justice
system is grossly unfair and arbitrary.

"The (president's) statements are a warning call," Rhina Roux, political
scientist at Mexico's biggest university UNAM, told Reuters. "(They show)
that there is something (happening), as much as they might say nothing is
happening."

Zedillo on Tuesday urged officers during an annual armed forces' ceremony
to "continue to do their duty within the strictest framework of the law."

Defence Minister Gen. Enrique Cervantes backed up his boss, telling another
ceremony that "to be loyal is to be legal."

Mexico's armed forces have traditionally been allowed to run their own
affairs in return for keeping on the political sidelines and strictly
supporting what is Latin America's oldest civilian government.

But they have come under increasing scrutiny recently as they have taken on
a greater role in fighting the illegal narcotics trade and a handful of
leftist guerrilla groups.

A handful of high-ranking officers, including several generals, were found
to have links to drug traffickers in the past two years -- casting doubt on
the integrity of the armed forces.

"In Mexico, the army used to be the only institution that had kept itself
apart from corruption," Roux said.

More attention was focused on the secretive institution when some 50
soldiers in December marched down Mexico City's main avenue to protest at
what they said were unfair insubordination charges brought against some
1,500 armed forces members in Mexico.

A prominent case is that of Gen. Jose Francisco Gallardo, whom Amnesty
International considers a prisoner of conscience and was jailed five years
ago after calling for a human rights ombudsman in the army.

Paulina Fernandez, another UNAM political scientist, said Zedillo's
comments were in effect a reply to rebel officers' group.

"It's a question of hushing up the dissident officers by means of
repression and imprisonment," Fernandez said.