New York Times
February 26, 2001
By Ginger Thompson

SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico, Feb. 25 -- Piling into a caravan of vans, trucks and buses accompanied by human rights monitors and foreign sympathizers, the Zapatista rebels set off today from this colonial town where their insurrection began seven years ago on what they called a March for Dignity.

In a two-week, 32-city tour across southern Mexico, the rebels hope to summon the kind of attention and momentum to their cause that the 1963 March on Washington did for the American civil rights movement, bringing together people from different walks of life to press for new rights for Mexico's 10 million indigenous people.

"For almost 200 years we have remained outside this house that we built from the ground, that we freed, that we lived and died for," the Zapatista's famously masked leader, Subcommander Marcos, told a crowd of some 10,000 supporters on Saturday night as he stood on a stage painted with murals. " 'Enough!' cry the voices of this country's first people. We want a place. We need a place. We deserve a place."

But even with his gifts as an orator and writer, the masked rebel leader is no Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And as he and the 24-member Zapatista delegation move toward Mexico City, they also carry with them the stigma of violence.

Some 145 people were killed in the 12 days of fighting at the start of the Zapatista conflict on New Year's Day in 1994. Although a cease-fire has been in effect for most of the conflict, hundreds more people have died in the last several years.

The Zapatista caravan has drawn a surprisingly broad and varied crew of backers for the cause of a motley rebel band that has gained attention and supporters from near and far, among them Grace Braley, 66, of Yonkers. "I am here in a sense of solidarity," she said, "in a sense of believing that the Zapatistas have set an example for the entire world."

Before it even began, the caravan became a political sensation in Mexico, rousing opposition and support, and firing debate over how to guarantee that all Mexicans share in the democratic changes ushered in with the election of President Vicente Fox, who defeated a party that ruled for 70 years.

President Fox has made a peaceful resolution of the Zapatista conflict a top priority. On his inauguration nearly 100 days ago, he immediately began taking steps to restart peace talks that have been stalled for more than four years. The march is the Zapatistas' way of piling still more public pressure on Mr. Fox to live up to his word.

But the caravan has divided the president from leaders in his conservative National Action Party, which urged him to ban the demonstration. And political leaders across the country have described the caravan as an affront to law-abiding citizens.

Some have called it a risk to national security. Last week officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross, which monitored the safety of the Zapatistas during past peace talks, announced that they would not escort the caravan.

While the rebels have been promised safe passage by the government and freedom from arrest, the atmosphere in some states along the route is simmering with threats. That has raised concerns about the possibility of violence as the caravan traverses regions of southern Mexico that are in significant ways not much different from the old American South.

Indeed Chiapas, a state steeped in Mayan traditions, is often referred to as the Mississippi of Mexico. It is ravaged by racial and political violence, by poverty, hunger and illiteracy and by the flight of young men and women who have gone north in search of work and dignity.

On Saturday night, the ragtag rebels and their supporters held a farewell rally for the delegation of Zapatista leaders who say they plan to address Congress once they arrive in the capital, something the government has said it will allow them to do.

This time, they came to this colonial city masked but unarmed. Many of them had traveled half the day, with only a few tortillas for food and torn sandals on their feet.

"Death to the system that forgets and humiliates," read one banner. Another read, "Long live the rights and cultures of indigenous people."

Subcommander Marcos, the rebels' principal spokesman and chief strategist, is not Indian by blood. But indigenous Zapatista commanders reaffirmed his honorary place among them by giving him a ceremonial baton and the Mexican flag at the rally here on Saturday.

Subcommander Marcos called the march a quest for equality, justice and democracy. He vowed that the Zapatistas' struggle would not end until Mexico's Indians - people he described as "those of us who are the color of the earth" - were able to take their rightful place in the nation.

For his part, President Fox has dismantled dozens of military checkpoints and closed four military bases in Chiapas. And more than 40 Zapatista prisoners have been released from jail.

But the president has also seemed increasingly torn by the political forces that support and despise the rebels. In an abrupt change of course about two weeks ago, he announced that he would not comply with rebel demands to close three more military bases unless the Zapatistas agreed to meet with government representatives.

Subcommander Marcos responded by agreeing to meet with just about anyone except members of the Fox administration - including several journalists and a Mexican comedian.

Since then, it appears that the government has begun to try to beat Subcommander Marcos at his favorite game: public relations.

Mr. Fox has orchestrated his own high-profile campaign for peace and Indian rights in an effort to usurp some of the vitality of the Zapatista cause.

The director of the president's Office for the Development of Indigenous People announced that a $1 million grant from Teléfonos de México would be used to free hundreds of Indian prisoners who had been kept in jail on misdemeanor charges because they were unable to pay fines as low as $50.

The Mexican media giant Televisa will join with its competitor, TV Azteca, to sponsor a concert for peace on Saturday, featuring popular rock bands. And throughout the next week, news reports indicate that Mr. Fox is scheduled to visit many of the same cities as the Zapatista tour, announcing programs aimed at helping Mexico's indigenous people.

In a televised address to the nation last Friday, he said he welcomed the Zapatista caravan and called it a "march for peace." Interior Minister Santiago Creel said government forces would provide security to the Zapatista delegation.

"Welcome to the march that will be a bridge for peace and the vindication of indigenous people," Mr. Fox said.

Subcommander Marcos did not return the warm greeting. "He says this is a march for peace and he keeps our brothers in jail," the rebel leader said on Saturday. "He says this is the march for peace and he keeps his troops occupying the homes of hundreds of women and children and old people who have fled to the mountains in resistance."

"Those who are in the government," the rebel leader added, "have tried to turn this into a march for a false peace."