GUADALUPE TEPEYAC, Mexico (AP) -- Zapatista rebel sympathizers protested
                  Saturday, demanding an end to the military occupation of a jungle hamlet that
                  rebel forces once used as their headquarters in the southern state of Chiapas.

                  Protesters carrying candles and white flowers gathered in front of the military
                  base in Guadelupe Tepeyac and called on President Vicente Fox to close it -- as
                  he has done with several others in Chiapas.

                  If Fox wants peace, "he has to make amends with his people and withdraw the
                  army," said Fernando Velauzaran, a spokesman for the demonstrators.

                  "If the army really represents Mexicans, it has to make up for the many damages
                  it has caused hundreds of Indian families," he said.

                  Since Fox took office December 1, ending seven decades of rule by the
                  Institutional Revolutionary Party, he has made peace with the Zapatistas a major
                  priority. He has closed four military bases in Chiapas, released rebel sympathizers
                  from jail and sent an Indian rights bill to Congress.

                  The rebels have said he must close more bases, including Guadalupe Tepeyac,
                  and release more prisoners.

                  Chiapas Gov. Pablo Salazar answered that call last week by releasing nine
                  prisoners and promising to free more. And Fox has promised to consider closing
                  more bases, including Guadalupe Tepeyac.

                  The Zapatistas took up arms in January 1994 to fight for the rights of poor
                  Indians. The rebellion was followed by six years of conflict between
                  pro-government paramilitary groups and rebel sympathizers in Chiapas.

                  The rebels used Guadalupe Tepeyac as their headquarters until 1995, when the
                  army drove them out along with the village's 1,000 residents.

                  During a visit to Chiapas on Friday, Fox invited the rebels to meet with him
                  when they come to Mexico City in March to lobby Congress for passage of the
                  Indian rights bill.

                  Fox also announced a modernization campaign aimed at reducing poverty and
                  boosting economic development in Mexico's poorest region.

                  At a ceremony honoring Mexico's armed forces Saturday, Fox said the
                  government was confident it would soon negotiate peace in Chiapas.

                  Copyright 2001 The Associated Press.