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Foreign supporters, Zapatistas, mark revolt anniversary
Copyright ) 1998 Nando.net
Copyright ) 1998 The Associated Press
SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico (January 1, 1998 5:00 p.m. EST
http://www.nando.net) -- On the fourth anniversary of the Zapatista
rebel uprising, sympathizers marched Thursday in this highlands city to
celebrate the rebellion and mourn 45 people massacred in nearby Acteal.
Only about 100 people braved the cold for the march through the streets
of this colonial city -- about half of them foreigners.
"Where are the San Cristobal people? There are only Americans here,"
said Carmen Ramirez, 34, a San Cristobal resident, whose husband is a
soldier. Their 1-year-old son clung to her shoulder.
"There are no Mexicans here," she said. "The people of San Cristobal
support the army being here, because they bring calm."
Unlike tens of thousands of subsistence farmers in the surrounding
mountains who provide the support base for Zapatista rebels, most of the
116,500 residents of this colonial city have strongly supported Mexico's
government and participated in demonstrations against Roman Catholic
leaders sympathetic to the rebel cause.
Ramirez's mother-in-law, Gloria Flores, said she believed foreign
supporters of the Zapatista rebels are bringing arms into the region,
and she said the government should deport them all.
Outside a church, young Americans, Italians and Germans -- some of them
wearing red headbands and white tunics -- said they were marching in
solidarity with the poor Mayan-descended Indians who are a majority in
southern Chiapas state and accounted for all the victims of the Dec. 22
massacre in Acteal, a hamlet 25 miles away.
Survivors of the attack blamed supporters of the ruling Institutional
Revolutionary Party. About 40 people have been arrested, many of them
PRI members.
"In the youth hostels throughout Mexico, people are talking about
Chiapas," said Mike Ferry, 37, of Santa Cruz, Calif., who arrived here
in the days after the massacre.
"It's hard to get an accurate idea of what's really happening, but I'm
definitely in support of indigenous people and their rights."
The Zapatistas rose up on Jan. 1, 1994, to demand economic and political
reform in the impoverished state. Fighting over the next two weeks
killed at least 145 people.
The impact of the rebellion was felt nationwide. Hundreds of thousands
of Mexicans marched in support of the rebels, and the face of rebel
leader Subcomandante Marcos soon appeared on T-shirts and banners.
Since then, Marcos' movie-star popularity has faded. Peace talks have
stalled. Rebel villages are surrounded by at least 35,000 federal troops
scattered across Chiapas' mountains and canyons.
The massacre in Acteal, however, could mark a turning of the tables in
the rebels' public relations war -- the only field where the outnumbered
and outgunned insurgents have strength.
Many of the foreigners said they attend meetings in their countries to
talk about the situation in Chiapas, and came to Mexico after the
massacre to lend moral support.
"There are a lot of Europeans who are more interested in these cultures
than Mexicans themselves," said Lucy Santoro, 34, of Brindisi, Italy.
Santoro belongs to Yankuikanahuak International, a locally based group
supporting the rights of poor farmers.
The group's president, a Mexican named Xokonoschtletl, gave an animated
speech about Maya power to a group of Mexicans who appeared puzzled by
his ideas.
"We have a group of Europeans who come here to support us," he said.
"After the massacre, a lot flew in."
The Zapatista rebels celebrated their anniversary late Wednesday in
Oventic, a village 15 miles north of here. They and their supporters
shot off fireworks and danced late into the night.
The guerrillas vowed not to give up their demand for improved conditions
for the region's Indians.
"We will not surrender," said a Zapatista leader known as Comandante
David.
-- By NIKO PRICE, The Associated Press
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