March 23, 1999
By The Associated Press

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- A judge has ruled that the expulsion of three Americans and several other foreigners from the southern state of Chiapas was unconstitutional, Mexico City media reported Tuesday.

Judge Olga Sanchez Contreras ruled in favor of the three U.S. citizens, two Canadians, four Spaniards, two Belgians and one German, who were expelled from Mexico by immigration authorities because they allegedly were interfering with Mexico's internal politics, the daily Reforma reported.

The visitors were ejected in April after a raid by authorities against a town council organized by sympathizers of the Zapatista rebels based in Chiapas state.

Mexican law prohibits foreigners getting involved in domestic politics. Since a rebel uprising in 1994, authorities have broadly interpreted that ban to include foreigners who attend rebel-sponsored events or who state opinions about local politics.

BBC World Service

A judge in Mexico has annulled the expulsion order against twelve foreign nationals who had been staying in a part of the southern state of Chiapas controlled by the Zapatista rebel group.

The twelve foreigners were expelled in April 1998 after government forces retook the village they had been living in from Zapatista sympathisers. According to a Mexican human rights group, the judge ruled that the order had been made for political rather than legal reasons.

The Mexican government has expelled dozens of foreigners from Chiapas since the breakdown of talks between the government and the Zapatista rebels in 1996.