Zapatista rebels mark 20 years but continue to battle same problems

When the masked Subcomandante Marcos emerged in Mexico's southern mountains with his band of Zapatista rebels on January 1, 1994, they demanded change for the destitute indigenous people of Chiapas. But 20 years later, the pipe-smoking revolutionary and his comrades have retreated to remote communities, the media spotlight has dimmed and Chiapas remains Mexico's poorest state. The Zapatistas will mark their rebellion's anniversary with fiestas in their villages on Wednesday, but not with the same attention they received when they first burst into the scene. Taking its name from 1910 revolution hero Emiliano Zapata, the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) appeared the same day that the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came into force.