Mexico Under Siege

MEXICO'S SUBCOMANDANTE MARCOS MAKES A RARE APPEARANCE

At a Chiapas Conference, Rebel Leader Marcos, in His Signature Ski
Mask, Holds Forth on Mexico's War on Drugs, the Bloodshed in Gaza,
Even the Perceived Shortcomings of President-Elect Barack Obama.

Who was that masked man?

Fifteen years after his uprising shocked Mexico's status quo, and a
year after he more or less dropped out of public view, Subcomandante
Marcos had made a comeback appearance.

At least, it seemed to be Marcos. He was, after all, wearing his
trademark black ski mask.

Followers were convinced. They listened over the weekend as Marcos
ticked off complaints and critiques -- of Mexico's war on drugs, the
events in the Gaza Strip, even the perceived shortcomings of
President-elect Barack Obama.

Apparently a year out of the limelight had given Marcos lots to
say.

"We came to know each other in war, and in war we continue," he
said.

Marcos spoke in San Cristobal de las Casas, in Chiapas state, at a
four-day conference marking the 15th anniversary of the short-lived
rebellion by his Zapatista National Liberation Army. It was part of a
"first annual" event called the Festival of Dignified Rage, which ends
today.

In January 1994, the Zapatista guerrillas launched an offensive aimed
at dramatizing the bleak living conditions, poverty and alienation of
Mexico's indigenous population. They managed to seize control of
several towns in Mexico's southernmost province, Chiapas, before the
army beat them back into remote hills. It was over in less than two
weeks.

Since then, the Zapatistas functioned as a largely political movement.
A folk culture emerged around the masked Marcos, meanwhile, as he gave
interviews, received visitors from around the world and saw dolls and
T-shirts bearing his likeness. And although he and his followers
brought attention to the plight of Mexican Indians and achieved some
voice in local governments, Chiapas remains mired in poverty and violence.

Marcos had choice words for both President Felipe Calderon's
center-right government, which he accused of being in cahoots with
some drug gangs in order to wipe out others, and for Andres Manuel
Lopez Obrador, under whose stewardship the left has been badly
fractured. Marcos accused Lopez Obrador of sectarianism and
intolerance.

He said Americans who voted for Obama in hopes of major change in U.S.
foreign policy would probably be disappointed; he cited the fact that
Obama has not condemned Israel's attack on Gaza as evidence.

He also criticized Calderon's decision to send more than 40,000 army
troops into several Mexican states to battle drug traffickers. The
action, he noted, had failed to stop the bloodshed while inflaming the
crisis because of allegations of human rights abuses by soldiers.

Marcos spoke to about 2,000 followers and was flanked by two fidgety
little girls who also wore black ski masks.

About a year ago, Marcos said he felt his movement had "gone out of
style" and was failing to attract the support it once did. He
announced that he would stop making appearances. It was not clear
whether his decision to speak out now signaled a new political campaign.

Marcos offered his own suggestion for an ongoing government contest to
name the most useless bureaucratic procedure that Mexicans must
endure: presidential elections.

"In addition to being extremely expensive, and we have to put up with
the stupidities that the candidates repeat, it's really being decided
elsewhere who will sit in the presidential seat," Marcos said.