SCORES DEAD AFTER GOVERNMENT BATTLES WITH ARMED INDIANS
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January 1, 1994 (Sunday)
Officials say a second day of fighting between government forces and well
armed Indians has claimed 57 lives, including 30 soldiers and police
officers. Eight people were killed in Saturday's fighting.
The Indians are said to be holding three towns near the Guatemalan border in
Chiapas, one of Mexico's poorest states.
The clashes are happening outside the popular tourist town of San Cristobal
de la Casas.
Witnesses spoke of peasants in red bandanas looting stores, wrecking
government offices and burning official papers in rampages through several
towns.
Mexican officials say it's the first sign of organized 'guerrilla' activity
in Mexico since the 1970's. Those peasant Indians fighting claim to be from a
previously unknown group called the "Zapatista Army of National Liberation."
Catholic bishops in two cities are asking for a truce. The group says it is
protesting abuses by Mexican authorities against Lacandon Indians who live
in the region. The Indians have complained they are losing their land to
swindlers and that their traditional way of life is being destroyed.
Mexico's presidential spokesperson says force will not be used to quell the
insurrection.
---In balance,
Tina