On the Zapatista Campaign Road

On New Year's Day Zapatista leader Subcommander Marcos started his bid for president throughout Mexico. The largely ceremonial bid is intended to really build on the leftward turn in Latin American politics. Throughout his tour he is blaming current politicians for "savage capitalism and the sins of the rich for everything from gay-baiting to racism to domestic violence."

Subcommander Marcos has all the points of a typical campaign for political office: slogans, chants, partisan songs, rallies large and small, a campaign caravan making stops in towns and cities, jabs at other politicians, cute presentations from children and hugs from local community leaders, shaking hands with admirers over a line of bodyguards, and the occasional obligation to kiss, or at least hug, a baby or two.

From the New York Times:

"In the coming days we are going to hear a ton of promises, lies, trying to give us hope that, yes, things are now going to get better if we change one government for another," he said Tuesday before a crowd of 4,000 masked followers in the town square of Palenque, site of noted Maya ruins. "Time and time again, every year, every three years, every six years, they sell us this lie."

In January 1994, Marcos led an army of Indian farmers out of the mountains and took over the eastern part of the state of Chiapas, protesting the government's neglect of indigenous peoples. The government struck back with a huge offensive the following year, pushing the rebels back into the Lacandón jungle, which covers most of eastern Chiapas. The authorities say Marcos is actually a white college professor from a middle-class family whose name is Rafael Sebastián Guillén Vicente.

Since the old corrupt single-party regime was toppled in the 2000 elections, support for Marcos and the Zapatista Liberation Army has waned somewhat here. The Fox government has poured more money into schools and antipoverty programs, while keeping a heavy military presence in the region. In the meantime, Congress has rejected some accords with the rebels that would have given Indian communities greater autonomy...

...An adroit humorist, Marcos brought guffaws from the crowd as he described his rooster's attempts to find love in the barnyard, which always ended in Penguin falling over before he could mate.

That anecdote was told to persuade people to accept other kinds of love between same-sex couples. When someone in the back of the crowd shouted that Marcos could not heard, Marcos handled it like a seasoned stand-up comic.

"That's O.K.," he said. "This part is rated triple X. It's better you don't hear it."

Pedro Cruz, a 49-year-old construction worker, is typical of the Mexican voters he has been attracting to his speeches here. Like many working class people, Mr. Cruz is disenchanted with politics and contends that even the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution will be corrupted by big business interests if its candidate, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, is elected. He says he does not intend to vote.

"Marcos is going to have a big influence, I think," he said. "The fact is, it gives us some hope there might be some help for the poor."