MEXICO CITY – After dominating the political scene for weeks, speaking on the floor of congress and tweaking the beards of their conservative
opponents, a contingent of 24 Zapatista rebel leaders left Mexico City on Friday to return to the southern state of Chiapas.
MEXICO CITY – After dominating the political scene for weeks, speaking on the floor of congress and tweaking the beards of their conservative
opponents, a contingent of 24 Zapatista rebel leaders left Mexico City on Friday to return to the southern state of Chiapas.
The Zapatistas left the capital’s political circles brimming with good will toward their movement, but without having engaged in much serious debate on how to implement the Indian rights bill they demand.
Unlike the highly publicized rallies they held since arriving in the capital March 11, their departure was relatively low-profile. They left the same way
they came to Mexico City, aboard the bus caravan that carried them on a two-week tour of a dozen Mexican states.
There was no immediate information on when they would reach their jungle hide-out in Chiapas, which they left Feb. 24 to start the bus tour aimed at building support for the rights bill currently before congress.
The rebels made no public statements on their departure. They left behind a congress still glowing with good will from the Wednesday
event, in which the rebels – without their military leader, Subcomandante Marcos – said they were ready to emphasize the political, rather than
military, nature of the movement.
But the rebels did not answer legislators’ questions on what kind of changes they would accept in the rights bill, leaving congress with the delicate
task of amending a bill without knowing whether the final outcome will persuade the rebels to return to formal peace talks.
Author:
News Service: AP
URL: http://www.eco.utexas.edu/faculty/Cleaver/chiapas95.html
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