From: "michael pugliese" <debsian-AT-pacbell.net>
Subject: AUT: FW: [SLDRTY-L]: Fwd: Mexican Rebel Leader Vanishes
Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2001 13:42:50 -0700



>--- Original Message ---
>From: julianjg-AT-aol.com
>To: sldrty-l-AT-igc.topica.com
>Date: 8/10/01 12:34:56 PM
>

>Mexican Rebel Leader Vanishes
>
>By ALEJANDRO RUIZ
>..c The Associated Press
>
>  
>LA REALIDAD, Mexico (AP) - Subcomandante Marcos has built a
career on 
>being unreachable, mysterious and masked. But just as the Indian
rights 
>movement reaches a critical point, the leader of the Zapatista
rebels is 
>nowhere to be found. 
>
>Mexicans are beginning to ask a simple question: Where's Marcos?

>
>Five months ago, he led a triumphant tour through Mexico, culminating
in 
>an address to Congress by ski-masked rebels. Then the leftist
guerrillas 
>fighting for Indian rights slipped back to their hide-outs in
the 
>jungles of southern Mexico and disappeared. 
>
>Now government peace negotiators, Indian activists, Roman Catholic

>bishops and reporters are all searching for Marcos as Indian
groups, 
>Congress and the Cabinet are locked in a bitter battle over
a newly 
>approved Indian rights law. 
>
>One archaeologist has even turned to Mayan astrology for a possible

>explanation. He says Marcos may be guiding his movements based
on an 
>ancient Mayan calendar. 
>
>``Marcos and the Zapatistas are maintaining silence, and so
is the 
>government,'' said Marcos Matias, head of the government's National

>Indigenous Institute. ``It's as if both sides are waiting to
see what 
>the other will say.'' 
>
>Matias said the leader's silence ``could unleash a roar of conflicting

>voices and pressures'' in Chiapas, a state fractured along religious,

>ethnic and political lines, ``that could paralyze any attempt
to 
>implement social programs there.'' 
>
>The main issue - an Indian rights law that Marcos demanded,
and 
>President Vicente Fox sent to Congress - has pitted legislators
and 
>Cabinet members against one another and against angry Indian
groups. 
>
>The dispute began when Fox's party changed the law in Congress
to give 
>state legislatures the right to interpret Indian autonomy as
they saw 
>fit. 
>
>Pro-Zapatista groups blocked highways in Chiapas to protest
the changes, 
>which they said weakened Indians' right to use their native
languages, 
>maintain traditional forms of government and profit from the
natural 
>resources on their lands. 
>
>Six Roman Catholic bishops in southern Mexico urged Indian communities

>to accept the deal as ``an advance not to be sneezed at.'' But
they also 
>recognized that Marcos - the only man capable of persuading
Indians to 
>accept it - has been out of touch since April. 
>
>``If one possible solution has been closed off, there are 1,000
more,'' 
>Chiapas Bishop Felipe Arizmendi said in a message directed at
the 
>Zapatistas. ``In the face of a problem with 1,000 solutions,
we can't 
>close ourselves off in an all-or-nothing position.'' 
>
>Marcos did not respond to the bishop's call. 
>
>One Mexican newspaper speculated the Zapatistas felt outflanked
on the 
>domestic front by Fox's popularity, and the effusive lip-service
he paid 
>to their movement. 
>
>So, according to that theory, the rebels have been dedicating
their time 
>to reinforcing the European support network that supplies a
steady 
>stream of activists and funds for their rebellion. 
>
>Indeed, some believe that Marcos - a city-bred former university

>instructor who spent time in Europe before joining the rebels
20 years 
>ago - may not even be in Mexico. 
>
>A senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity,
said 
>there had been no contact with Marcos, and the guerrilla leader
did not 
>appear to be interested in any kind of negotiations. 
>
>Amid the wooden shacks and banana trees of La Realidad, a remote
village 
>where Marcos used to meet visitors and hold occasional news
conferences, 
>nobody one is talking. 
>
>``He's not here,'' said one supporter who, like most Zapatistas,
refused 
>to give his name. 
>
>One local Zapatista leader, who uses the name Don Max, said
Marcos is 
>waiting for ``the people'' to decide their next step. 
>
>``The people don't know how to speak, so they give their word
to the 
>Subcomandante, so he can make their words known,'' he said.

>
>Indeed, it seems almost any theory on Marcos' plans is as good
as any 
>other. That's where archaeologist Juan Yadeun Angulo comes in.

>
>Angulo says the Zapatistas have stressed Mayan symbolism in
their 
>statements since starting their uprising in 1994, calling themselves
the 
>``seventh rainbow,'' a reference to the Mayan lord of war. 
>
>The Mayan calendar cycle that began in 3114 B.C. ends in 2013
- 20 years 
>after the beginning of the Zapatista rebellion. Archaeological
evidence 
>suggests ancient Mayan city-states felt compelled to fight cyclic

>20-year wars against each other. 
>
>``The Mayan gods could really be a force,'' Angulo said, ``and
they 
>could be seen as requiring their people to fight for the remainder
of 
>the 20-year cycle.'' 
>
>AP-NY-08-10-01 1356EDT
>
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