SAN CRISTOBAL, Mexico (AP) -- The Zapatista rebels of southern
                  Mexico on Friday denied government claims that members of their group
                  have turned over their weapons to Chiapas state Gov. Roberto Albores.

                  Albores presided over a brief ceremony on Monday in which 16 men
                  dressed as rebels marched out of the jungle and handed their guns to him.
                  The governor said it was part of his offer to offer aid to groups who disarm.

                  But in a communique circulated here Friday, rebel leader Subcomandante
                  Marcos called the event a "government farce" using members of a
                  pro-government vigilante group posing as Zapatistas.

                  He claimed the event was organized at government orders by Alfredo
                  Jimenez Cruz, whom he identified as an employee of the Ocosingo
                  municipality and as a member of the Anti-Zapatista Revolutionary Indian
                  Movement, known by its Spanish initials as MIRA.

                  Jimenez Cruz could not be reached for comment late Friday.

                  The Zapatista National Liberation Army, formed in the mid-1980s, rose in
                  rebellion on Jan. 1, 1994. After two weeks a fighting, an uneasy cease-fire
                  took hold, though hundreds of people have died in clashes between pro-
                  and anti-Zapatista groups since.

                  Peace talks have been stalled for about two years.