By JULIA PRESTON

               SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico -- Top leaders of the Zapatista rebels, wearing
               their trademark black ski masks, emerged from their jungle hideouts to appear in public
          Friday for the first time in two years.

          The Zapatistas' reappearance in this colonial town in the highlands of Chiapas state, which the rebels
          briefly occupied in January 1994, had awakened hopes that they might consider renewing peace
          talks with the government.

          But those were quickly dashed Friday night when the Indian rebels angrily complained that a
          commission of federal lawmakers charged with organizing the event had failed to provide beds and
          food for them and treated them "like animals."

          "We are not asking for luxury hotels or grand banquets or bar service," said a Zapatista commander
          who is known only by his nom-de-guerre, Tacho, speaking to a room crowded with their
          supporters. He said that many of the 29 Zapatista delegates to the three-day meeting had no beds
          and were relegated to a building in the rustic conference center here where the plumbing was
          broken.

          In icy tones, Tacho accused the lawmakers of being racist and acting like Spanish conquistadores.
          The half-dozen legislators on the commission come from all the parties in the Mexican Congress,
          including both pro-government and pro-Zapatista groups. They serve as mediators between the
          guerrillas and the government. None are Indians.

          The Zapatistas demanded an apology but did not threaten to walk out of the meetings.

          Talks with the government fell apart in late 1996, with the Zapatistas charging that President Ernesto
          Zedillo had reneged on accords reached earlier that year.

          In addition to restarting contact with the mediating commission, the Zapatistas also summoned 2,500
          of their civilian supporters to strategize about publicizing their message in other areas of Mexico
          beyond Chiapas. Since a paramilitary band of government supporters killed 45 Zapatista
          sympathizers in December 1997, Zapatista leaders had severed contact with the outside world.

          Their agreement to attend the brainstorming session this weekend with dozens of pro-Zapatista
          political groups seemed to indicate they felt they had become too isolated. However,
          Sub-Commander Marcos, a non-Indian who is the rebels' chief strategist, did not attend so far.