MEXICO: CRACKDOWN ON ZAPATISTA REBELS
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Original upload date: Thu, 23 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT
Archive date: Wed, 01 Dec 2021 16:47:28 GMT
(11 Feb 1995) Spanish/Nat
In an effort to inspire investor confidence in Mexico, President Ernesto Zedillo has launched a crackdown on the Zapatista rebels.
Mexican troops seized weapons Friday and
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arrested a woman they claim heads the rebel organisation in the capital.
Zedillo's action appeared to have bolstered investor confidence in
Mexico.
The stock market rose 1.7 per cent Friday and the peso
strengthened slightly.
Her name is Maria Gloria Benavides and the Mexican authorities claim she is the Zapatista rebels' Mexico City leader.
Benavides was paraded before journalists after being captured by in the capital.
In simultaneous raids in Mexico City and Veracruz, police seized a cache of weapons allegedly belonging to the Zapatistas.
President Zedillo went on nationwide television claiming that it was the rebels who were responsible for a breakdown in peace negotiations with the government.
SOUNDBITE:
"Yesterday the Attorney General discovered two clandestine locations in Mexico City and Veracruz state. A group of Zapatistas was arrested in possession of high-power guns, like grenades, mortar ammunition and explosives."
SUPER CAPTION: Ernesto Zedillo, President of Mexico
Afterwards sympathisers of the Zapatista rebels took to the streets to protest against the government's policy shift.
President Zedillo's new hard-line approach follows claims by the security forces that they have identified the rebel leader Marcos.
During a press conference they said he's the son of a wealthy family from the northern state of Tamaulipas.
The name of the 38-year-old man who allegedly left everything behind to fight for the rights of Mexican Indians is Rafael Sebastian Guillen Vicente.
And the says it has pictures of the enigmatic rebel whose face has hitherto remained hidden behind his woollen mask.
In the southern state of Chiapas, the Zapatistas told reporters that they had declared a "red alert", cut down trees, dug trenches and planted mines along roads that lead into territory controlled by them.
President Zedillo, in office since December 1st, is under intense pressure to reassure investors about Mexico's stability, especially after the worst economic crisis in decades.
The lingering Zapatista crisis is not helping Mexico attract the foreign investors it needs to help its beleaguered economy.
Mexican troops are now reported to be heading for rebel territory in the southern province of Chiapas.
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