Mexican officials are trying to convince 17 indigenous communities in the troubled state of Chiapas to leave their homes in an ecological reserve in order to save the land from forest fires, according to media reports on Tuesday. Interior Minister Diodoro Carrasco said federal and local officials were "negotiating" with residents of the Montes Azules region in the Lacondon jungle - one of Mexico's last remaining rain forests - to stop slash-and-burn farming that can lead to forest fires, the daily La Jornada and other newspapers reported.