MEXICO: REBEL LEADER PESSIMISTIC ABOUT FUTURE OF PEACE PROCESS

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(10 Jan 1996) Spanish/Nat

The Zapatista rebel leader has said he is pessimistic about the future of the peace process despite a week-long meeting with hundreds of Indian leaders in Mexico on indigenous rights.

The meeting ended with proposals that mediators hope will lead to an historic rights accord between the government and the Zapatista rebels.

The Zapatistas led a rebellion two years ago demanding deep political and economic reforms in the southern state of Chiapas.

Subcomandante Marcos- the Zapatista leader- accused the government of preparing for an all-out war to crush support for the rebels on the eve of talks with the government.

The Zapatista rebel leader- Subcomandante Marcos- arrived in San Cristobal de Las Casas ready for yet another round of peace talks.

The aim of this gathering is to push the peace process ahead which started last April but has stalled many times.

This meeting saw hundreds of Indian leaders gather for a week long forum on indigenous rights.

They devised a series of proposals for settling the two year dispute with the government during which at least 145 people have died.

Indian representatives asked the government to grant them limited autonomy and to promote Indian culture and guarantee women's rights.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"There's a clear conscience that we stand before new paths where the subject for the construction for peace, Mexican society, find the viability to comply with its tasks and responsibilities."
SUPER CAPTION: Bishop Samuel Ruiz, Lead Peace Negotiator

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"They want to forget us - but not only are we - the indigenous - threatened, there are also many Mexicans that are not attractive because they're not priced in dollars. They who are not indigenous and we who are condemned to be forgotten."
SUPER CAPTION: Subcomandante Marcos, Zapatista Rebel Leader

The Zapatistas led a rebellion two years ago demanding political and economic reforms in the southern state of Chiapas.

A formal agreement with the government on the rights of Mexico's seven (m) million Indians could result from these talks.

But at a news conference after the meeting, Marcos said he was pessimistic about the future of the peace process.

He accused the government of preparing for a war of extermination against the Zapatistas.

His words were in sharp contrast with the hopes expressed by Catholic Church and congressional leaders following the conclusion of the meeting.

Peace talks resume today (Wednesday) when government negotiators will receive the proposals from the week-long meeting.

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