In Mexico, Zapatistas get no argument
The Zapatista rebels of southern Mexico are finding it hard to pick a fight.
Mexico’s leading left-leaning presidential contender, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, refused on Monday to answer weekend criticisms of his Democratic Revolution Party by Zapatista leader Subcomandante Marcos.
“I’m not going to fight with Subcomandante Marcos,” Lopez Obrador told Mexican reporters during a campaign swing through northern Mexico.
“I greatly respect his points of view, but I’m touring the country with another purpose,” he added, referring to his presidential campaign.
Marcos recently has repeatedly criticized Lopez Obrador and the party known as the PRD, saying they have reneged on promises to support Zapatista goals.
It was not clear if the criticism would undermine Lopez Obrador’s poll-leading run for the presidency among Democratic Revolution’s core leftist base or if it would help him with other voters by making him seem moderate.
More: thedesertsun.com
Zapatistas start political tour of Mexico
The leader of the military group promises to advance its socialist, pro-Indian cause through peaceful means.
Twelve years after a short but violent New Year's uprising in Chiapas, Mexico's poorest state, the Zapatistas have launched a new campaign to reshape the nation - a political campaign.
The leader of the Mayan Zapatistas, Subcomandante Marcos, launched a national tour Sunday to rally support for the group's pro-Indian, socialist policies, reports the Associated Press.
Thousands of supporters cheered as Subcommandante Marcos, the Indian rights movement's ski-masked leader, roared through La Garrucha on a black motorcycle with a Mexican flag
Update 6: Zapatistas Begin Tour to Reshape Mexico
Zapatista rebels met Monday with leaders of poor and Indian groups at the start of a campaign that has carried them from their jungle strongholds for the first time in four years in a bid to reshape Mexico's politics.
The rebels' ski-masked spokesman, Subcomandante Marcos, arrived Monday in a caravan of minivans, SUVS and pickup trucks for the meetings with non-governmental organizations in this mountain city in southern Mexico.
The night before, Marcos formally launched the nationwide tour with a speech railing against capitalism, free trade and the Mexican government before 15,000 rebels
Mexico's Zapatista rebels to start 6-month campaign tour
Mexico's Zapatista rebels were to launch a six-month nationwide campaign tour on Sunday aimed at attracting more support from citizens.
The Zapatistas, who were emerging from their jungle hideouts, said they would carry out the tour in a peaceful way by rejecting rifles or wars.
The rebels launched a brief uprising on the New Year's Day 12 years ago, calling for more rights for Mexico's Indian minority.
During a visit to Mexico's 31 states, Zapatista leader Subcomandante Marcos promised to
Mexico's Zapatista rebels head into jungle region marked by violence
Ski-masked rebel chief Marcos left San Cristobal de las Casas on Tuesday and led his campaigning band of Zapatistas toward the ancient Mayan temples of Palenque, a jungle region marked by violence between the rebels and paramilitary groups.
Leaving the motor bike on which he started his six-month tour, which will take him from the southernmost Mexican state of Chiapas to the U.S. border, Marcos headed out of the mountain town of San Cristobal de Las Casas in a 10-vehicle convoy at the crack of dawn.
Dubbed "The Other Campaign" because it
Zapatistas seek to galvanize Mexico's leftists
SAN MIGUEL, Mexico After four years of hiding, the charismatic leader of the Zapatista rebel movement in southern Mexico has been holding "town hall" meetings with leftists, labor leaders, students, Indian-rights advocates and other supporters in an effort to forge a national campaign to rewrite Mexico's Constitution along socialist lines.
The rebel, who calls himself Subcommander Marcos, emerged from the woods Sunday morning surrounded by 24 armed rebels for a second day of listening to the leaders of dozens of charities devoted to social work and human rights. All the rebels wore the movement's trademark
Zapatistas' "Marcos" begins motorbike tour through Mexico
Subcomandante Marcos, the leader of the Zapatista National Liberation Army, or EZLN, on Sunday began a motorcycle tour of Mexico with the aim of uniting leftist civil organizations before this year's national elections.
At about 11:25 a.m. (1725 GMT), the EZLN chief passed through the town of La Garrucha without making any public remarks or stopping to meet with the hundreds of indigenous Zapatista sympathizers, journalists and domestic and foreign activists who had gathered here expecting to hear him deliver a solemn speech.
Marcos is traveling together with other EZLN members, who
Mexico Loses Appeal on Its Rice Tariffs
A World Trade Organization appeals panel ruled that Mexico had unfairly imposed anti-dumping tariffs on U.S. rice, rejecting Mexico's argument against a previous ruling.
Mexico imposed the tariffs on U.S. white long-grain rice in 2002, claiming that it was being sold in Mexico at unfairly low prices, damaging Mexican producers.
U.S. officials raised the issue before the WTO a year later. In its ruling, the appellate body said Mexico must bring its measures in line with WTO rules, confirming an earlier ruling.
More: latimes.com
Teen sought in fatal shooting may be headed for Mexico
A shooting early Saturday in the Semmes community near Mobile left one man dead and his brother wounded, a sheriff's spokeswoman said.
Abel Perez Jimenez, 23, was killed in the 3:30 a.m. shooting. His brother, Marcario Perez Jimenez, 19, was hospitalized with a gunshot wound.
Mobile County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Christina Bowersox said the shooting resulted from an argument between three men.
Deputies were looking for 18-year-old Luis Manuel Saenz Perez, also known as Augustin Velasquez, for questioning. He is believed to be headed for Mexico with his 14-year-old sister, Bowersox said.
They left
Being Mexico's Good Neighbor: Bad for America?
Common sense appears to have gone missing in Washington, D.C recently, particularly in efforts to combat the tandem evils of terrorism & illegal immigration.
But, Joy to the World! Common sense may be staging a dramatic comeback, as signaled by legislation passed last week by the US House. Lawmakers, it seems, are FINALLY making the vital interests of America the number one priority when considering immigration.
You KNOW that American interests are being served when you hear a loud choking sound from south of the border. That would be Mexican officials gasping for oxygen upon
Mexico's Che Guevara emerges as sex symbol
Subcomandante Marcos, the elusive, balaclava-wearing Mexican revolutionary, has emerged from the jungle to appear as a "sex symbol" on the cover of a celebrity magazine.
The rebel commander, who led an armed uprising of Chiapas Indians in 1994, was photographed for Quien (Who) magazine with his face covered and puffing on his trademark pipe, which he smokes through a hole in the black mask.
The article, headlined The Sub's Secret Love, described the 48-year-old as a "sex symbol of the jungle" and claimed he was in a relationship with a journalist.
It also coincided with his Zapatista
