Mexico's Zapatista rebels launch new, countrywide tour

SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico

Fourteen members of Mexico's Zapatista rebel movement prepared to begin a nationwide tour Monday, following up on leader Subcomandante Marcos' solo tour last year.

The male and female ski-masked rebel "commanders" who are demanding greater Indian rights will depart from the colonial city of San Cristobal to meet with advocacy groups in each of Mexico's 31 states.

The group is expected to take up issues such as the environment and unifying Mexico's often fractious left, Marcos has said.

Marcos began a yearlong tour in January 2006 in an effort to forge a national leftist movement and seek greater Indian rights. But the tour, intended to coincide with the July presidential election, did not have a major impact on Mexican politics.

The Indian rights movement is gaining steam in other parts of Latin America, such as Bolivia where President Evo Morales has championed the cause.

The new tour aims to build a broader leftist movement, adding to a following the Zapatistas built in southern Chiapas state during their brief, armed uprising in January 1994. The rebels have since been living under an uneasy truce with the government.