By Mark Stevenson, Associated Press, 03/03/01

NURIO, Mexico -- Thousands of Indians, students and foreign leftists opened a National Indigenous Congress today, calling for the passage of an Indian rights bill they believe would bring respect to those whose ancestors once ruled what is now Mexico.

Although they differ both in what they want and where they come from, the Indians attending the congress are united in their belief that the accord would help them preserve their diverse cultures, their languages and their land.

"What we want, those of us gathered here today, is a place in history, a place we have a right to," said Comandante Tacho, one of several Zapatista rebel leaders from the southern state of Chiapas.

The Congress was largely the creation of the Zapatistas' seven-year rebel movement, as well as one of the high points of their 17-day caravan throughout Mexico.

The caravan will arrive March 12 in Mexico City, where participants will lobby the legislature for passage of the Indian rights bill.

Students and leftist foreigners also attended the congress in Nurio, a small, entirely Purepecha Indian village in the western state of Michoacan.

"It's not that Indians are fighting against people of mixed race, but Indians and those of other races are uniting more than ever to fight for the poor, the workers and the farmers," said one organizer, Pablo Gonzalez Casanova.

Subcomandante Marcos is among those fighting for Indian rights, even though the charismatic Zapatista leader isn't Indian himself.

During a speech Saturday, he declared himself Indian, saying village elders had told him: "You are no longer you. You are one of us."

He also criticized President Vicente Fox, saying he was no different from past presidents -- including former President Ernesto Zedillo, who rejected the Indian rights bill.

"In the place of the one that fell, there is another," Marcos said. "But he doesn't look any different, he looks the same."

Marcos called Fox "he who talks a lot and listens very little." He added that Fox "has given us nothing."

Since taking office Dec. 1, Fox has made peace with the Zapatista rebels a priority. He has closed four army bases in Chiapas, helped gain the release of dozens of jailed Zapatista supporters and sent Congress the Indian rights bill that would give indigenous communities some autonomy.

Yet the rebels say that in addition to passage of the rights bill, all prisoners must be released and three more military bases must be shut down.

Still, Marcos called for more debate -- not more fighting.

"Now is the time for words," he told the 5,000 people gathered at the congress. "Put away your machetes, and start sharpening up your words."

The Zapatistas led an uprising Jan. 1, 1994, in the name of socialism, democracy and Indian rights. The uprising divided much of the southern state, sparking sporadic conflicts between Zapatista sympathizers and paramilitary groups.

Peace talks stalled in 1996 under the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which ruled Mexico for 71 years until its presidential loss to Fox in July.

The problems Mexico's Indians face are diverse, and their attitude toward Fox's new administration also vary widely.

"I think that Fox's intentions are good," said Hector Montoya Robles, a Huichol Indian community leader from the village of San Andres in the western state of Jalisco. "I think it's important that Fox has tried to reach out to this movement."

Montoya described one of the Indian customs that could be preserved under the Indian rights bill. In Huichol communities, a man accused of robbery is not turned over to police, but must stand in front of village elders and his accusers, apologize for his crime, pay reparation to the victim and then go to jail.

"The public element, the fact you have to show your face, is stronger for us than any punishment," Montoya said.