Zapatista Peaceful March/Roundup 9/10 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Sept 10, 1997 Index: * Zapatista Rebels Invade Town Peacefully, Begin March to Mexico City (Cox) * As EZLN rebels roll toward capital, government says they are welcome (AP) * Mexico's Zapatistas in mass march for recognition (Reuter) * Mexico seeks renewal of peace talks (UPI) * Zapatista Rebels Invade Town Peacefully, Begin March to Mexico City By Susan Ferriss Cox News Service September 9, 1997 SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico -- Thousands of excited Indians, tourists and residents lined the streets of this sleepy mountain town Monday night, welcoming caravans of masked Zapatista rebels bound for Mexico City. "All they want is a little consideration, a little electric light, and some roads,'' said Caratina Perez Torres, 76, breaking into applause as she greeted a truck jammed with young Mayan Zapatista rebels wearing trademark ski masks and bandannas. The Zapatistas, a Mexican rebel group, invaded San Cristobal with weapons on Jan. 1, 1994, in a short-lived uprising to protest the North American Free Trade Agreement and abysmal conditions among Indians who live in Chiapas, a state on the Guatemalan border. On Monday they returned to the colonial city peacefully, where they rallied with supporters in front of a 17th century cathedral and initiated a 750-mile march to Mexico City to try to bolster their cause. Negotiations between the Mexican government and the Zapatistas broke down a year ago, and the Indian rebels complain officials have reneged on promises for more land, credit to help them grow crops and respect for Indian autonomy. They also charge that an increase in Mexican military troops is disrupting Indian villages and contributing to the growth of anti-Zapatista vigilantes known as "guardias blancas,'' or white guards. There are sporadic reports of clashes and shootings in isolated villages in Chiapas, where tension is high among pro- and anti-rebel groups. The rebels, who come from several Mayan Indian groups, will march into Mexico City on Friday to pressure the government to resume talks. Along the route, they plan to stop in the states of Oaxaca, Puebla and Morelos, where other Mexican Indians are expected to join them. The rebels said 1,111 Zapatistas are marching, representing all the villages deep in the mountains and jungle that are sympathetic to their cause. "We want to do this through peaceful means. We want to present ourselves to the president so he can't avoid us anymore,'' said "Eduvides,'' a masked Zapatista woman who, like most rebels, uses a nom de guerre. While they waited to depart Monday, the Zapatistas stood in a chilly rain that drenched San Cristobal and the emerald peaks surrounding the city. Some of the rebels, including older women with the calloused bare feet of peasants, hung the straps of their knapsacks from their heads _ the traditional manner Indians carry huge loads of firewood on their backs. The Zapatistas have become a symbol in Mexico for the centuries of abuse Indians have suffered. In Chiapas, the government has built new roads and strung power lines into remote villages in an attempt to respond to the Zapatistas' complaints. But many Indians remain desperately poor, and complain bitterly that they are paid little for the coffee and corn they produce. "Enough injustice,'' said Armando Gomez Torres, who attended the Zapatista rally with his wife and two children. The Tzotzil Maya Indian said he has barely two acres to farm in the rocky highlands above San Cristobal, where Indians have been driven over the centuries. Gregorio Gomez, who was carrying his baby son, also came to the rebel rally in San Cristobal, joining a mix of curious European tourists, townsfolk and Indians in traditional woven clothing. "There are too many military here,'' he said. "I'm not sure what (the Zapatistas) stand for really, but I'm hear to here what they say.'' Mexican officials have pledged that the Zapatistas will be safe on their journey to the capital. Clergy have announced they will monitor the march. (c) 1997 Cox News Service * As Mexican rebels roll toward capital, government says they are welcome By TRINA KLEIST Associated Press Writer Sep 09, 1997 18:30 EDT JUCHITAN, Mexico (AP) - More than 1,000 rebels and their supporters converged on this southern Mexican city Tuesday, the first leg of a peaceful march to the capital where the government insisted they would be welcome. Shouts of ``Viva Zapata!'' and ``Viva EZLN!'', the Spanish initials of the Zapatista National Liberation Army, rose from Indian men and women as dozens of buses carried them out of Chiapas state, scene of the rebellion. Many hid their faces with ski masks or bandanas in the style of Zapatista soldiers. The caravan is an attempt by the Zapatistas to show they are an important political force worthy of national attention. They also are demanding greater Indian rights and removal of troops from their home state of Chiapas. As the buses crossed through hill country into neighboring Oaxaca state, about 300 people watched and cheered, holding up banners showing Zapatista rebel leader Subcommandante Marcos and the red-and-black rebel flag. Federal highway police in patrol cars stood silent watch at regular intervals along the route through southern corn and bean fields. After stopping overnight in Juchitan, a center of Indian culture on the Tehuantepec Isthmus, the caravan was to roll through the Mexican heartland en route to an expected Friday arrival in Mexico City. Maria del Carmen Tapia, 26, held a blue umbrella against the blazing sun and cheered as the buses rolled down the two-lane Pan-American Highway into Oaxaca. She said she and other peasants identify with Zapatista calls for Indian rights and land. ``We are of mixed blood. But we have the same roots. A tree can't go strong if the roots are not united. We are here because these are our roots,'' said the curly haired woman. An elderly Zapatista woman and Maya Indians aboard the buses leaned out the window, waving and smiling at her and others cheering the motorcade. In Mexico City, federal officials tried to eliminate fears of a confrontation between the government and the Zapatista movement that rose to overthrow it in January 1994. Interior Secretary Emilio Chuayffet, in charge of domestic politics and security, told Mexico's Congress on Tuesday that the Zapatista delegation would be welcome in the capital. He expressed hope they could transform the movement into a political force. Among the Zapatistas plans is creation of Zapatista National Liberation Front, which would be an above-ground political wing of the movement. Chuayffet denied Zapatista claims the government is trying to back out of a February 1996 agreement to expand Indian autonomy. ``The government is not trying to renegotiate those agreements,'' Chuayffet said. ``It wants to honor its given word and wants to convert it into legal norms compatible with our constitutional framework.'' The government balked at a draft law proposed by a legislative commission to implement that agreement, arguing that it could endanger Mexico's unity and sovereignty. Chuayffet admitted there were ``deep differences about the wording of the initiative.'' He also insisted that the government wants to resume peace talks with the Zapatistas that the rebels broke off several months ago, claiming the government had failed to implement the autonomy agreement. President Ernesto Zedillo did not mention the conflict in his state-of-the-nation address a week ago. Rebels say their caravan and weeklong stay in the nation's capital is aimed at showing that they are still an important part of the national agenda. ``Our delegates go to Mexico City carrying our word to share with our Indian and non-Indian brothers and sisters in Mexico and the world,'' said a masked man who gave his name only as Obed. The Zapatista revolt on Jan. 1, 1994, drew widespread sympathy for Mexico's impoverished Indians. Fighting lasted less than two weeks, and the two sides then began a series of on-and-off peace talks. Most rebel leaders are remaining behind in a remote corner of Chiapas, Mexico's poorest state. (c) 1997, Associated Press * Mexico's Zapatistas in mass march for recognition 06:50 p.m Sep 09, 1997 Eastern By Dan Trotta SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico, Sept 9 (Reuter) - More than a thousand Zapatista guerrillas and their backers set off on Tuesday on a historic march to Mexico City to draw attention to an Indian movement they say the government has long ignored. As dawn broke in this chilly mountain town, Indians who had spent the night sleeping under colorful blankets on the pavement, boarded buses and set off on the rebel group's first large-scale action outside the southern state of Chiapas. The embarkation was orderly and quiet, with the discipline characteristic of the enigmatic Zapatista Mayans. No horns blew as the buses growled into gear. Only taped mariachi music seeped faintly through the early morning mist. The 40 busloads of 1,111 Zapatista rebels plus hundreds of supporters were on the first leg of a four-day journey that was due to end in Mexico City on Friday. The group left following the heady excitement of a rally late on Monday night in which an estimated 5,000 Maya Indians from the highlands of Chiapas packed the central square of San Cristobal after descending from the highlands of Chiapas. Indians clad in multicolored native dress or wearing the Zapatistas' trademark ski masks marched, shrugged off the rain and stood in formation on strict orders. Most refused to talk to reporters. ``The comrades, the thousands of men and women, are confident that we will bring something back from Mexico City,'' masked Commander Ezequiel told Reuters. ``And if there is nothing, we will continue the struggle.'' The government said it would not interfere with the march as long as the Zapatistas were unarmed. The 750-mile (1,200-km) trek from San Cristobal to Mexico City was seen as a bid to revitalize the rebel movement, which burst onto the scene with an armed uprising on Jan. 1, 1994, capturing the imagination of Mexicans and leftists abroad. After a brief period of fighting with government troops, a cease-fire was called, and the conflict has since been pushed to the fringes of the government's political agenda. But the Zapatistas left a huge imprint on the Mexican psyche, largely because of the incisive commentary of Subcommander Marcos, the pipe-smoking rebel leader in a ski mask pulling the strings from his Chiapas jungle hideaway. Marcos stayed behind while sending off his troops on Monday, but his name was invoked repeatedly in San Cristobal with shouts of ``Long live Subcommmander Marcos!'' Peace talks with the government broke down a year ago when the Zapatistas claimed that the government had reneged on an accord signed with negotiators in February 1996 aimed at granting autonomy to Indians in Chiapas. Since then the government has paid little attention to the Zapatistas, keeping them in check with a vastly superior contingent of Mexican army troops surrounding the rebels. ``President (Ernesto) Zedillo doesn't see or hear the Zapatistas,'' columnist Miguel Angel Granados Chapa wrote in Reforma newspaper on Tuesday, noting that the rebels were not even mentioned in his State of the Nation address on Sept. 1. The two main Zapatista demands were an army withdrawal from Indian communities in Chiapas and implementation of the Indian-rights agreement. The outpouring of support shown in San Cristobal served to remind the government and legions of international backers that the downtrodden Indians of Chiapas have not withdrawn their faith in the movement, one peace envoy and Zapatista supporter told Reuters. ``Civil society has come out in support because it senses that there is a light at the end of the tunnel of repression,'' Juan Banuelos said on Tuesday. ``After the march we hope that peace comes to Chiapas and the whole country. The reception in Mexico City will be a thermometer of where we are.'' Copyright 1997 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. * Mexico seeks renewal of peace talks Tuesday September 9 6:55 PM EDT MEXICO CITY, Sept. 9 (UPI) _ The Mexican government has called for renewed talks to settle a simmering rebel uprising in the southern state of Chiapas. During a congressional session to discuss the recent state-of-the- nation report, Interior Minister Emilio Chuayffet (chway-FEHT) said the government was did not want to renegotiate 1996 agreements but make them compatible with the constitution. The government of President Ernesto Zedillo balked at implementing the agreements on Indian rights and autonomy between the Zapatista rebels and members of the congressional commission for peace in Chiapas. Zapatista leader ``Subcommander Marcos'' called off the talks last September, saying the government had reneged on its word. Chuayffet told Congress the administration would ``honor its word'' and try to bring the agreements into line with ``the three-tiered structure of government and equality before the law.'' He called for dialogue with the Zapatistas to be ``resumed as soon as possible.'' Although there has been no open fighting between government forces and rebels in Chiapas since January, 1994, the spread of low-scale violence across the state has raised concern and brought charges of human rights abuses. Copyright 1997 by United Press International. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytcamer-09.12.97-01:32:01-26657