Zapatistas roll on toward capital

Scores of enthusiastic Indians cheered the passing caravan as Marcos -- wearing his trademark ski mask -- waved from behind a bus window. The caravan is expected to pass through 12 states on the way to Mexico City, where the rebels will lobby for the passage of an Indian rights bill in Congress.

The bill is one of three conditions the rebels, who led a brief uprising in 1994 in the name of Indian rights, say must be met before they will renew long-stalled peace talks with the government.

President Vicente Fox, whose election last year ended seven decades of rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, submitted the bill to Congress shortly after taking office in December.

He has also closed some military bases in Chiapas and has released some rebels from prison. The government released 20 Zapatistas on Sunday, leaving more than two dozen behind bars.

State police in Oaxaca said a man in the village of La Paz had sent a telegram threatening Marcos to the office of the Roman Catholic Bishop in San Cristobal. There were 600 federal police officers on hand as Marcos left San Cristobal on Sunday morning. Oaxaca Gov. Jose Murat said at least 1,500 state and municipal police officers would greet the rebel caravan as it entered his state.

Mexico's Interior Ministry said it assigned 3,500 federal police officers to the route. It said as many as 300 foreign observers and 200 Mexican and foreign journalists were traveling along the caravan's route. The rebels left their stronghold of La Realidad on Saturday and planned to arrive in Mexico City on March 11.

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