Mexico leader slams Obama

SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico,(AFP)

Mexico's Zapatista rebel leader "Subcomandante" Marcos slammed US president-elect Barack Obama for failing to speak out on Israel's bombing of Gaza, in a speech on Friday marking the 15th anniversary of his rebellion.

The masked leader of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation - which rose up in arms in Chiapas, southeast Mexico, on January 1, 1994 - also critized a government clampdown on spiraling drug violence, in his first public appearance in more than a year.

Obama "supports the use of force" against Palestinian people, Marcos said in a speech to some 2,500 leftist politicians and activists from 25 countries.

Obama has kept a low profile on the Gaza conflict, stressing that there is only one president at a time ahead of his inauguration on January 20.

Marcos also criticized Mexican President Calderon for his clampdown on drug violence, with the deployment of more than 36,000 soldiers countrywide so far failing to stop more than 5,300 deaths in drug-related attacks last year.

"Calderon promised he'd use all the force of the state against organized crime, but it's evident that organized crime directs the force of the state," Marcos said.

The rebel leader's Zapatista insurrection left 150 people dead before a ceasefire was declared 12 days later.

The small guerrilla army has now essentially become a political movement that groups several indigenous and peasant organizations as well radical leftist militants.

In July 2006, Marcos led a protest march to Mexico City against the alleged fraudulent election of Calderon earlier that month.