Demonstrations Mexico

She appeared as tiny as a 12-year-old, with a quivering, girlish voice. But Commander Ramona sent a powerful message Friday as the black-masked Indian woman became the first leader of the Zapatista rebels to take their campaign to the nation's capital. "I come from the mountains of southeast Mexico--from the Zapatista rebel mountains--to bring you all a message," she said to a cheering Indian conference here.

Zapatista sympathizers blocked main highways in the southern state of Chiapas, protesting Mexico's approval of a watered-down Indian rights bill. The demonstrators also urged President Vicente Fox to free nine Zapatista sympathizers from jails, disarm paramilitary groups and stop "political repression." They blocked highways for hours across the state, bringing traffic to a halt.

In an unprecedented blow against organized labor, the Mexican government Tuesday arrested the powerful leader of the national oil workers union in a military raid that officials said netted hundreds of automatic weapons. Joaquin Hernandez Galicia, known as La Quina, was detained at his Ciudad Madero home in the coastal state of Tamaulipas after a shoot-out between his bodyguards and federal police backed by the army. A federal agent was killed.

About 500 protesters marched on the U.S. Consulate in Acapulco demanding $1.5 million in back pay for 10,000 Mexicans hired to work in the United States during World War II. As part of a 1942 agreement signed by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Mexican President Manuel Avila, U.S. officials temporarily hired 2.5 million Mexicans while Americans fought overseas.

Even by the Gothic standards for murder in this city, the death of the doctor prompted horror and outrage. The horror centered on why anyone would want to kill 47-year-old Simon Ramirez Aranda, by all accounts a respected civic activist and family man. The outrage was directed at the brazenness of the point-blank shooting--just outside Ramirez's medical office in the city's snazzy business district--and at what many view as a new level of impunity in a city familiar with violent bloodletting.

It happened a quarter of a century ago, shortly after 6 p.m. and just 10 days before the opening of the XIX Olympiad: Soldiers and riot police opened fire on thousands of demonstrators, mostly students, who had gathered in this capital's historic Tlatelolco district, once an Aztec stronghold. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, were killed. The final toll remains a mystery.

Striking students who have shut down Latin America's largest university for more than two months have agreed to start talks on settling the dispute amid growing signs of public and government opposition to the walkout. After a rancorous marathon meeting, students at the National Autonomous University of Mexico voted to meet with university officials for their first formal talks since launching the strike April 20 over proposed tuition hikes.

Simultaneous strikes at two major Mexican universities kept more than 400,000 students from classes. Tens of thousands of students walked out on most campuses of the National Autonomous University of Mexico to protest measures that would end virtually free higher education at the country's largest and oldest university.

Tens of thousands of Mexicans took to the streets Thursday in a massive protest against President Ernesto Zedillo's proposal to privatize the electricity industry. The protesters, mostly workers from the Mexican Electricians Union, marched down the capital's main boulevard in heavy rain. Officials say Mexico was forced to act by the certainty that its current electricity supplies would be inadequate to power growth beyond the next couple of years.

Seventeen mayors and thousands of residents from Chiapas state gathered in San Cristobal de las Casas to protest changes to an Indian rights bill aimed at restoring peace to the troubled region of Mexico. The bill, which calls for regional autonomy for Indian areas on issues such as native languages and traditional government, was sent to Congress in December. After months of legislative debate, a heavily amended version passed in April.

Four activists from Greenpeace Mexico unfurled a banner blasting President Bush's environmental policies from an electrical transmission tower at this beachfront town in Baja California. More than a dozen security guards, municipal officers, firefighters and an ambulance were called to the scene. No arrests were made. The Rosarito power plant is being expanded to meet the demands of California consumers who face rolling blackouts.

Seventeen mayors and thousands of residents from Chiapas state gathered in San Cristobal de las Casas to protest changes to an Indian rights bill aimed at restoring peace to the troubled region of Mexico. The bill, which calls for regional autonomy for Indian areas on issues such as native languages and traditional government, was sent to Congress in December. After months of legislative debate, a heavily amended version passed in April.

Thousands of educators marked the national Day of the Teacher with protest marches against inadequate salary increases and a proposed federal tax on food, medicine and books. At least 10,000 teachers clogged Mexico City's main streets and gathered in its massive central plaza to object to an 11% salary increase negotiated by the government and teachers union representatives late Monday. Some teachers wanted as much as 100%. Teachers in Mexico City earn, on average, $750 a month.

Tens of thousands of supporters welcomed Subcommander Marcos and 23 other Chiapas rebel leaders as their caravan rolled triumphantly into the Mexican capital's main square, ending a 2,100-mile trek from their southern stronghold and opening an uncertain political chapter in Mexico's modern democracy.

Riot police beat and kicked rock-throwing protesters Tuesday during demonstrations to demand that political and business leaders gathered at a resort hotel here do more for the world's poor. Several bleeding protesters were loaded onto ambulances, and many more suffered cuts and bruises. About 30 were detained in the fracas, which occurred shortly after Mexican President Vicente Fox delivered the closing speech at the World Economic Forum's meeting.

Seven years after he and his ragtag band of Maya Indians seized this placid colonial city in an armed rebellion that stunned the world, Subcommander Marcos was back, armed this time not with a gun but with a speech. In that moment this weekend, the Zapatista rebels' struggle for indigenous rights shifted from a military theater where the guerrillas had no prospect of victory to a political stage--one where they may well be capable of challenging the new national government as agents for change.

Striking students clashed with students seeking to end a nine-month-long strike at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the country's largest. One person was killed and at least 30 hurt. The street fighting erupted when about 200 students opposed to the strike forced their way onto the campus of a university-affiliated high school in Mexico City. One man died of stab wounds to the chest, said ambulance driver Antonio Ramirez. At least four of the wounded suffered skull fractures.

Seven years after he and his ragtag band of Maya Indians seized this placid colonial city in an armed rebellion that stunned the world, Subcommander Marcos was back, armed this time not with a gun but with a speech. In that moment this weekend, the Zapatista rebels' struggle for indigenous rights shifted from a military theater where the guerrillas had no prospect of victory to a political stage--one where they may well be capable of challenging the new national government as agents for change.

Hundreds of Mexico City police blocked streets with patrol cars and marched through the capital's center to protest the detention of four colleagues who shot and killed a thief during a gun battle. Local prosecutors have not said why the four police officers were detained after a Tuesday shootout with two thieves who stole a car at gunpoint, but it was rumored that they were being accused of excessive use of force. The four were released, apparently without charges, after the protest.

For the first time in 23 years, Irene Ortega slept late this weekend. She didn't get up at 6 a.m. to fix her husband's meals for the day. She didn't haul out the washboard to scrub the clothes. Her husband was duly informed that he could fend for himself: She was on strike. "He looked at me bug-eyed," the 60-year-old street vendor reported cheerfully. "He said, 'Why, you old copycat.'