The sentences handed down Monday followed the first murder convictions in a case that touched off an international outcry.
Fifteen children were among the 45 people gunned down on Dec. 22, 1997, in Acteal, a village in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas that was sympathetic to the Zapatista rebels.
The perpetrators were Indians from neighboring villages who supported the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party and allegedly received some of their weapons from the Mexican army and police.
The massacre drove the conflict in Chiapas back into headlines across the world and revived sympathy for a rebellion that was by most measures dormant.
In all, 102 people -- including the soldiers and policemen accused of aiding the killers or failing to stop the massacre -- have been arrested.
In December, a police officer was convicted of providing guns to the killers and sentenced to nearly four years in prison.
The remaining 81 people charged are scheduled to be tried between August and December, court officials said Monday.
A soldier has been charged with having trained the group that committed the massacre, and a retired army general serving as a police officer has been charged with failing to stop the killing.
The government has denied that paramilitary groups are active in Chiapas, saying the armed gangs do not receive support from the army.
The Zapatistas staged a brief armed uprising in Chiapas in January 1994, demanding greater democracy and Indian rights. Peace talks between the government and the rebels have been stalled since 1996, and clashes between rebel supporters and soldiers and paramilitary groups have been frequent since then.
© Copyright 1999 The Associated Press