Insurgent leader "Subcomandante Marcos" was greeted by 15,000 people last night as his "Zapatour" reached the outskirts of Mexico City after tracing the route taken 87 years ago by revolutionary leader Mr Emiliano Zapata.
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'Marcos' speaks to the people after his arrival in Mexico City
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Marcos spoke briefly to the crowd to mark International Women's Day.
The tour began when the insurgents and hundreds of followers set off from Chiapas on March 24th on a 3,000-km drive to promote an indigenous rights bill before Congress.
A massive rally in Mexico City's central Zocalo square on Sunday will mark the tour's climax.
There was some progress yesterday in another rebel demand for the release of some 100 prisoners when Chiapas Governor Mr Pablo Salazar announced that 19 political prisoners had been set free.
The latest releases bring to 77 the number of Zapatista sympathisers freed since December.
Yesterday's stage of the "Zapatour" followed the route Zapata took in 1914 to the capital for talks with then president Eulalio Gutierrez at the height of the Mexican Revolution.
In the morning Marcos, who led a January 1994 uprising of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) in Chiapas, paid tribute to Zapata in Anenecuilco, the revolutionary leader's birthplace.
"Our General Zapata taught us not to struggle for power because power rots the blood and clouds the mind," said Marcos.
AFP