Women and Children Bar Mexico Army from Rebel Town

09:08 p.m Jan 09, 1998 Eastern
By Jesus Ramirez

MORELIA, Mexico, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Indian women and children, locking arms in a human wall and challenging the army to open fire, on Friday stopped Mexican troops entering a town of Zapatista rebel supporters in troubled Chiapas state.

``If you want to kill me, kill me,'' shouted 10-year-old Manuel, standing defiantly next to his mother and smaller brothers two yards (metres) in front of a heavily-armed unit of about 170 soldiers at the edge of the town of Morelia.

No shots were fired and the troops eventually gave up on their fourth attempt this year to enter Morelia.

The Tzetzal Indian blockade in Morelia, a bastion of support for the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), which took up arms against the government on New Year's Day 1994, reflected growing suspicion of the military in the southern state of Chiapas.

``Get out of here. We want to live in peace,'' shouted Manuel and several other adolescents in chorus with their mothers in Morelia, about 500 miles (800 km) southeast of Mexico City.

Rebel leaders have accused the army of trying to provoke renewed conflict by patrolling pro-Zapatistas communities following a Dec. 22 massacre of 45 Indian refugees by paramilitaries, some linked to the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

Government officials say the army has been sent out to Indian communities in Chiapas to distribute food and other supplies to the refugees and also to enforce firearms laws.

President Ernesto Zedillo says he is determined to solve the conflict and new Interior Minister Francisco Labastida Ochoa has said disarmament is a prerequisite for peace.

But since last month's murders, federal troops have not been welcome in many rural communities.

``If you don't get out of the way we will arrest you,'' threatened one of the soldiers, pointing a rifle at the Indians in Morelia but failing to impress them into retreat.

In all, more than 100 women and children faced down the soldiers in a scene that has been repeated across Chiapas since last month. Some children threw stones at the troops.

``Our women are showing their worth like never before in the history of Mexico. They are setting an example for women around the world,'' said a Zapatista supporter, who identified himself only as Joaquin.

In a separate development, the federal National Human Rights Commission on Thursday called for scores of top Chiapas state officials to be sacked in connection with the killings. The state's governor, Julio Cesar Ruiz Ferro, quit on Wednesday.

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

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