can tony or someone else out there compare the rights of Amerindians
(Mexindians?) and Mexicans?  what are the ethnic and legal differences?
can the Amerindians vote?  since most Mexicans are mestizos, how to tell
the differences?  what exactly do the Amerindians want?  their own state
and legislature?

where to find the text of the San Andre's accords?

thanks for your help.

norm

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tony Abdo wrote:
>
> Here, we find the puny, sickly, leader of a ragtag mob, confused over
> the receipt of an olive branch of peace.      Quite a contrast to the
> article full of such respect for the leader of the Colombian death
> squads, that appeared in their pages a month ago.      That thug, Carlos
> Castanyo, was then described as the leader of 'a lion let loose'...
> according to the genteel paper of note!      He was also described as
> 'outspoken', whereas Marcos is only capabe of 'a rare moment of candor'.
>
> Below, America's 'liberal voice', the New York Times
> pleads........."Let's Give Peace a Chance'.
>
> Tony Abdo
> _________________________________
> Mexico Rebel Chief Says the Fight Is Now for Peace
> New York Times
> January 30, 2001
> By Ginger Thompson
>
> SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico, Jan. 28 - There was a different kind
> of
> fight in the rebel leader's voice.
> The urgency was unchanged from the day seven years ago when he first
> declared war against the Mexican government on behalf of a ragtag mob of
> Indians called the Zapatista National Liberation Army. Their cause, the
> pursuit of equal rights for all of Mexico's 10 million indigenous
> people,
> remained their primary goal.
>
> But in an interview in the jungles of Chiapas, his first with an
> American
> newspaper in four years, the elusive Subcommander Marcos made it clear
> that
> the masked rebels want peace.
>
> "We want to stop being what we are," he said, his dark eyes so intense
> that
> the ski mask covering the rest of his face could not conceal his
> expression..
>
> "We are people without faces, armed and fighting for what we believe."
>
> "We would like to show our faces," he continued. "We would like to put
> down
> our weapons, but to keep fighting for our beliefs like people in every
> other
> part of the world."
>
> Although his words at times shifted from caution to outrage, the message
> that rang like a church bell was that peace could soon come to Chiapas.
>
> In seven years, there have been only a dozen days of combat between the
> Zapatistas and government troops, leaving 145 people dead. But hundreds
> have
> been killed in clashes between rebel supporters and pro- government
> paramilitary groups. Thousands of others have been forced to flee their
> homes.
>
> "I'm optimistic," the guerrilla leader said. "I think we will have a
> successful dialogue with the government, that the war will be ended and
> that
> we will be able to move on to new work."
> For a man and a movement that have been shrouded in mystery, it was a
> rare
> moment of candor. It comes one month before he and a 23- member
> commission
> of Zapatista leaders are planning to march on Mexico City in a caravan
> snaking across at least six states and more than a dozen cities, and
> culminating in an address before Congress. The rebels will campaign for
> the
> passage of a series of new Indian rights - known as the San Andre's
> accords -
> which, if passed, would mark the most significant achievement of the
> movement. It would also mark the Zapatistas' first step toward becoming
> a
> legitimate political organization.
>
> During the interview, Subcommander Marcos, who has become an idol to
> leftist
> groups around the world, shunned his signature theatrics and sharp
> sarcasm
> to talk forthrightly about the lingering obstacles to peace, about the
> achievements of the Zapatista movement, and about his own postwar plans.
>
> He and another rebel commander known as Tacho had sneaked on horseback
> into
> the tiny village of La Realidad. They came with no body guards, and they
> did
> not orchestrate any gimmicky displays of force.
>
> Perhaps because of the larger- than-life image of the subcommander that
> has
> been perpetuated by leftists around the world, he seemed surprisingly
> small,
> perhaps 5 feet, 8 inches, with narrow shoulders and hands that looked
> ill-suited for combat. His eyes were watery, and he sniffled from a
> cold.
> The automatic rifle slung across his back seemed the only threatening
> thing
> about him. When asked about it, he said it was not loaded.
>
> Seated in a tumbledown mess hall, dimly lit with candles, he
> acknowledged
> during the 90-minute interview that a brewing political storm in the
> Mexican
> Congress could wreck the prospect for peace. But what worried him most
> was
> whether Mexico's new president, Vicente Fox, would respond fully to a
> list
> of rebel demands and keep the stalemated Zapatista conflict moving
> toward a
> resolution.