ZAPATISTAS SAY GOVT ATTACKS FORCE THEM TO KEEP ARMS 


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    Copyright 1997 by Reuters
    Sun, 14 Sep 1997 16:20:45 PDT

         MEXICO CITY (Reuter) - Mexico's Zapatista rebels said Sunday
the government is escalating ``a dirty war'' against indigenous
Mexicans in poverty-ridden southern Chiapas state.
         Companero Isaac told a crowd from the National Indigenous
Congress that increased militarization in the nation's poor
south is a plot to destroy leftist Zapatista rebels.
         ``In recent months the militarization in all our indigenous
zones has grown considerably, the formation of paramilitary
groups or federally paid and armed white guards ... with the
goal of destroying our organization,'' he said.
         Such attacks have forced the Zapatistas ``to keep their
faces covered and their guns loaded,'' Subcommandante Marcos
said in a statement delivered from the jungle Saturday.
         In a message to a rally of rebels in Mexico City, he pledged
the guerrillas will continue their armed struggle in Chiapas.
         About 1,100 Zapatista guerrillas completed a four-day,
750-mile trek from the jungle last week to descend on the
nation's capital.
         ``The war continues in southeast Mexico and the Zapatistas
will continue to be armed and ready to fight,'' the pipe-smoking
rebel leader told about 5,000 followers, many dressed in
traditional garb and barefoot.
         The Zapatistas caught the world by surprise on Jan. 1, 1994,
when the indigenous rebels first took up arms and declared war
on the Mexican government.
         About 40,000 supporters greeted the rebels in Mexico City's
Zocalo city center Friday, not quite filling the square.
Analysts have said the rebels have lost some of the public
appeal they enjoyed when they first took up arms.
         Almost four years after the initial rebel uprising, Marcos
said that ``peace is still far away.''
         Marcos' message was read by Indians wearing their now-
trademark ski masks at a congress for the National Zapatista
Liberation Front (FLZN), a new political organization.
         But the charismatic rebel leader said the leftist political
body will not replace the armed defense in the jungle of
Chiapas, one of Mexico's most impoverished states.
         ``When we formed the FLZN we thought that peace was near and
that our rebel activity would have to look for new expression,''
Marcos said in his statement.
         ``But we were wrong. Peace is not near,'' he added, accusing
President Ernesto Zedillo of dragging his feet in negotiations.
         Mexico City's incumbent mayor, Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, welcomed
the Zapatistas Saturday at the first day of their assembly.
         ``Thousands of citizens realize the merit of the Zapatista
cause, but we also said that weapons would not be the path to
their victory,'' the leftist leader said.
         Until the current march and rally, the Zapatistas had
largely faded from the spotlight, their talks with the
government stalled and their protests essentially dormant since
their first months of violence. Last year they were overshadowed
by a new Marxist rebel group, called the EPR, which launched
surprise bloody attacks in the countryside.

 
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