MEXICO: ZAPATISTA REBELS MARCHING TOWARDS MEXICO CITY ARRIVE ON OUTSKIRTS OF CAPITAL

Record ID: 208485

  • Title: MEXICO: ZAPATISTA REBELS MARCHING TOWARDS MEXICO CITY ARRIVE ON OUTSKIRTS OF CAPITAL
  • Date: 9th March 2001
  • Summary: SAN PABLO OZTOTEPEC, MEXICO.(MARCH 09, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV: THOUSANDS OF ZAPATISTA SUPPORTERS GATHERED IN THE TOWN 0.06 2. VARIOUS OF SUPPORTERS (3 SHOTS) 0.24 3. MV: SUPPORTERS DANCING 0.27 4. MV: MARCOS WAVING TO SUPPORTERS 0.34 5. WS: INDIGENOUS GROUPS GATHERING 0.40 6. CU: MARCOS SMOKING PIPE 0.46 7. VARIOUS OF REBELS, SUPPORTERS AND INDIGENOUS GROUPS LISTENING TO THE NATIONAL ANTHEM (6 SHOTS) 1.07 8. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MARCOS SAYING: "Everyone thinks that we are like a cloud of smoke and that you all will return to your jobs and to your homes once we are gone but, I will tell you this, we will not leave here until there is constitutional recognition of our rights." 1.26 9. GENERAL VIEW OF INDIGENOUS GROUPS GATHERED 1.29 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 24th March 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SAN PABLO OZTOTEPEC, MEXICO
  • Country: Mexico
  • Reuters ID: LVAD68LG6JG4ECX3WOE03U0E0ZKQ
  • Story Text: Zapatista rebels marching towards Mexico City have
    arrived to the outskirts of the capital as thousands of
    supporters gather.


    Zapatista rebels marching to Mexico City edged ever
    closer on Friday (March 09) as they arrived at the outskirts
    of the capital in what has become a historic trek across the
    country.

    Subcommander Marcos, along with 23 other rebel leaders,
    were joined by hundreds of supporters in San Pablo Oztotepec
    in the outskirts of Mexico City.

    Speaking to the crowd he said that the Zapatistas were
    regarded by some as a fad that will pass but added "let it be
    clear that we are not leaving here until there is
    constitutional recognition of indigenous rights and culture,"
    he said.

    Marcos, who launched an armed uprising in the name of
    Mexico's disinherited Indian minority in January 1994, is due
    to arrive in the capital on Sunday to lobby lawmakers to pass
    a bill giving indigenous communities greater freedom in
    running their affairs.

    The masked rebel leader's popularity has soared as his
    caravan of Zapatista leaders and sympathizers has emerged from
    a jungle stronghold in Chiapas and traveled across the country
    over the past two weeks on the way to the capital.

    But Mexicans from all backgrounds are anxious to see an
    end to the conflict. Although the Zapatistas have not engaged
    in fighting for seven years they have not formally laid down
    their arms.

    On Friday, Marcos pledged to continue the political
    struggle until the indigenous rights bill was enacted.

    Mexico's President Vicente Fox has said that before he
    took office, ending 71 years of uninterrupted rule by the
    Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), it would have been
    unthinkable for the Zapatistas to move unhindered across the
    country.

    Tens of thousands of Mexicans are expected to take to the
    streets of the capital on Sunday to welcome Marcos and his
    band of followers.

    Passage by Congress of the controversial Indian rights
    bill, which many lawmakers oppose, is one of three rebel
    conditions for resuming peace talks, stalled since 1996.

    The other two conditions are release of Zapatista
    prisoners and a troop pullback from seven bases in the
    conflict zone.



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