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Subject: Mexico Votes on Indian Rights
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 1999 23:38:39 EST
Mexico Votes on Indian Rights
.c The Associated Press
By ADOLFO GARZA
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexicans voted Sunday in a nonbinding referendum on Indian
rights, hoping their voices could break an impasse in negotiations between the
government and Zapatista rebels.
The results of the referendum were a foregone conclusion. Only Mexicans
sympathetic to the Zapatista National Liberation Army cause were likely to
vote and the wording of the questions -- such as whether the opinions of
indigenous people should be taken into account -- made opposition unlikely.
But the Zapatistas hope the vote will put pressure on the government.
The Zapatistas staged a brief uprising in 1994 in southern Chiapas state in
the name of greater rights for indigenous people. Peace talks have been at a
stalemate since a partial accord was signed in 1996 and the Zapatistas lack
the military force to pose a serious threat.
Many participants in the referendum criticized the government for not doing
enough to resolve the conflict.
``If millions of people turn out to support the indigenous people against
racism and militarization, the government must heed the popular demand,'' said
Candido Gutierrez, 66, after voting in a downtown booth. ``We can't continue
treating Indians like they did 500 years ago.''
The Zapatistas accuse the government of failing to abide by the 1996 accord.
The government claims legislation proposed by President Ernesto Zedillo last
year fulfills its obligations, but the Zapatistas reject this.
The government has largely ignored the referendum. The Zapatistas have
complained of scattered cases of interference by people associated with the
governing party, but no major problems have been reported.
Zapatista spokesman Subcomandante Marcos, said in a videotaped statement
issued days before the referendum that the vote represents the rebels' attempt
to reach a peaceful solution.
``We are not calling for a military or a violent protest,'' Marcos said.
``What we seek instead is a peaceful demonstration which consists simply of
expressing one's ideas.''
Among the other questions in the referendum was whether the government should
withdraw troops from Chiapas.
Meanwhile, Mexico charged 10 foreigners, most of them Americans, with
violating their tourist status by participating in the referendum.
An official at the National Migration Institute, who spoke on customary
condition of anonymity, said the foreigners were caught voting in the
referendum.
AP-NY-03-21-99 2227EST
Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP
news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise
distributed without prior written authority of The Associated Press.
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