Zapatistas quit the jungle for soapbox

[Kire]

{b}Zapatistas quit the jungle for soapbox

Subcomandante Marcos leaves four years' hiding to speak out

Giles Tremlett
Monday August 8, 2005
The Guardian

The masked revolutionary icon of Latin America, Subcomandante Marcos, emerged from the Mexican jungle for the first time for four years over the weekend as his Zapatista movement rebranded itself as a non-violent proponent of alternative politics.

Wearing his trademark military fatigues and sweat-provoking black ski mask, the rebel appeared to be kick-starting a recently declared shift towards political engagement by the Zapatista National Liberation Army.

He carried with him a chicken dressed to look like a penguin - the unlikely new symbol of a revolutionary movement made up mainly of Maya Indians from the sweltering jungles of the southern Chiapas region.

The mysterious revolutionary, who led a brief armed uprising in Chiapas in January 1994 in the name of Indian rights, did not reveal where he had been hiding for the past four years.

More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1544510,00.html