THE WAR WITHIN.

• Author: THOMPSON, GINGER
• Position: Mexico's Zapatistas fight for Indian rights

A promise of peace sparks hopes that Mexico's Zapatistas can win their fight for Indian rights

The 29-year-old farmer and father of four uses the battle name Santano. He has been a rebel in the Zapatista National Liberation Army since it declared war against the Mexican government nearly seven years ago in the state of Chiapas, on the southeastern edge of Mexico. And even though his world has recently inched closer to peace, Santano sees no reason to let down his guard.

He heard that the country's new President, Vicente Fox, had proclaimed a new dawn for the conflict-ravaged region. He heard that military checkpoints were dismantled, that many Zapatista political prisoners might soon be released from jail, and that pending arrest warrants, like the one against him, might be wiped out.

But in Santano's mind, it all added up to nothing: no easing of tensions, no flickering hopes for peace, no new dawn. "All our lives the government has deceived and ignored us," he says. "Presidents in the past have told the world they would seek peace. But for us, there has only been more violence and fear. We do not trust anything."

President Fox defeated one of the Zapatistas' top adversaries when he became the first opposition figure in 71 years to take control of the presidency from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (see "Fox Hunt"). But the day after Fox's inauguration, the Zapatistas' outspoken leader, Subcommander Marcos, warned Fox that the rebels were prepared to keep up their armed struggle if the government did not meet certain demands.

WHAT IS A ZAPATISTA?

The Zapatista name comes from Emiliano Zapata, a Mexican farmer turned revolutionary leader from the early 1900s, who is worshiped as a hero. The modern-day Zapatistas, an estimated 2,500 to 5,000 poorly armed farmers, fight for a cause not much different from the one that fueled America's civil rights movement during the 1960s. About 30 percent of Chiapas's 4 million residents are Indian people--mostly descendants of the Maya, rather than the conquering Spaniards. The rebels demand equal treatment under the law, better schools, health care, and job opportunities.

"We want our needs to be heard, like any other human being," Santano says. "We do not want to be separated because of our race."

The Indian people face desperate times. They suffer the nation's highest rates of malnutrition, illiteracy, and infant mortality. Some of Mexico's most brutal racial violence has occurred in Chiapas...