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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | January 2006 
Female Mexican Zapatista Leader Dies at 47
 Associated Press
| | Comandante Ramona, the Tzotzil Indian commander who gained recognition as the opening speaker for the Zapatistas during the first peace negotiations in San Cristobal de las Casas in Feb. 1994, makes an appearance in La Realidad, Chiapas Wednesday, Oct. 9, 1996. (AP/Scott Sady) |
Mexico City - Comandante Ramona, a leader of Mexico's Zapatista rebel movement and an advocate for women's rights, died on Friday after a decade-long struggle with a kidney disease, rebel leader Subcomandante Marcos said.
Ramona was believed to be about 47 years old, but like most of the rebel leaders she did not reveal her age or name.
Few details are known about her life, other than that she was a Tzotzil Indian who joined the rebel movement sometime before its January 1994 armed uprising and rose to prominence in its ranks.
Often visibly frail, Ramona became an advocate within the Zapatista movement for women's rights and a promoter of traditional handicrafts.
Marcos announced Ramona's death in an emotional statement at a stop in Chiapas state during his six-month, nationwide tour to build a new leftist movement.
"The world has lost one of those women it requires," Marcos said. "Mexico has lost one of the combative women it needs and we, we have lost a piece of our heart."
Marcos called off the tour's planned appearances in order to attend Ramona's funeral, expected to be held in the Chiapas state town of Oventic over the weekend. |
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