Chiapas Rebels Want More From Fox

Zapatista rebels marked the seventh anniversary of their 1994 Indian rights rebellion with praise for Mexican President Vicente Fox’s efforts to restart peace talks--and a warning that his actions don’t go far enough.

A day after the government announced that it was closing a second military base in a conflict zone of the troubled southern state of Chiapas, the Zapatistas said they would settle for nothing less than the closure of all seven bases located near rebel strongholds.

“Each one of the bases represents an affront to the desire for peace of the vast majority of Mexicans and of tens of thousands of people from other countries,” said rebel commander David, who, like most Zapatistas, uses only one name.

Reading from a statement issued by the Zapatistas’ general command, David said the rebels appreciated the decision to withdraw troops from the two bases, as well as Saturday’s release of 17 guerrilla prisoners, and Fox’s decision to immediately send an Indian rights bill to Congress.

But he said there could be no peace dialogues until the government complied with rebel demands for the withdrawal of more troops.

In particular, David said, the army should leave the village of Guadalupe Tepeyac, southeast of San Cristobal de las Casas, which the rebels used as their headquarters until 1995, when the army drove out them and more than 1,000 residents.

In a surprise announcement Sunday, officials said they would close the 5-year-old base in the municipality of Jolnachoj, only 875 yards from Oventic, a key Zapatista base.

On Dec. 22, the government closed a controversial army base in Amador Hernandez. Rebel supporters had protested daily outside the base for more than a year.

Fox, whose July 2 election ended 71 years of single-party rule, has promised to bring peace to Chiapas. Since taking office Dec. 1, he has instituted initiatives aimed at restarting peace talks.

Thousands of indigenous Zapatista supporters gathered Monday amid a dense fog to mark the seventh anniversary of the Jan. 1, 1994, uprising.

The Zapatista National Liberation Army, an overwhelmingly Indian rebel force, captured six Chiapas towns in the uprising that took the government by surprise. A cease-fire took hold 12 days later after more than 145 deaths.

After rebel leader David’s speech, Indians dressed in traditional straw hats and brightly colored scarves danced alongside the ski-masked guerrillas to celebrate.