Author
gretchen
needs US spin . . . pretty short though. when did Fox meet with Bush?
World: Rebel sympathizers protest military occupation of Chiapas village
By ALEJANDRO RUIZ, Associated Press
GUADALUPE TEPEYAC, Mexico (February 10, 2001 8:48 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - Zapatista rebel sympathizers protested Saturday and demanded an end to the military occupation of a jungle hamlet that rebel forces once used as their headquarters in the southern state of Chiapas.
Protesters carrying candles and white flowers gathered in front of the military base in Guadelupe Tepeyac and called on President Vicente Fox to close it - as he has done with several others in Chiapas.
If Fox wants peace, "he has to make amends with his people and withdraw the army," said Fernando Velauzaran, a spokesman for the demonstrators. "If the army really represents Mexicans, it has to make up for the many damages it has caused hundreds of Indian families."
Since Fox took office Dec. 1, ending seven decades of rule by the Institutional Revolutionary party, he has made peace with the Zapatistas a major priority. He has closed four military bases in Chiapas, released rebel sympathizers from jail and sent an Indian rights bill to Congress.
The rebels have said he must close more bases, including Guadalupe Tepeyac, and release more prisoners.
Chiapas Gov. Pablo Salazar answered that call this week by releasing nine prisoners and promising to free more. And Fox has promised to consider closing more bases, including Guadalupe Tepeyac.
The Zapatistas took up arms in January 1994 to fight for the rights of poor Indians. The rebellion was followed by six years of conflict between pro-government paramilitary groups and rebel sympathizers in Chiapas.
The rebels used Guadalupe Tepeyac as their headquarters until 1995, when the army drove them out along with the village's 1,000 residents.
During a visit to Chiapas on Friday, Fox invited the rebels to meet with him when they come to Mexico City in March to lobby Congress for passage of the Indian rights bill.
Fox also announced a modernization campaign aimed at reducing poverty and boosting economic development in Mexico's poorest region.
At a ceremony honoring Mexico's armed forces Saturday, Fox said the government was confident it would soon negotiate peace in Chiapas.