POLITICS : Mexican Rebels Prove Masters at Public Relations : Zapatistas’ strategic expertise surprised military experts. Their image-making skills win over the media.

After 21 hours of bumping along rutted roads in a caravan of crowded minivans and scrambling up muddy hills hauling equipment, 200 reporters returned from the jungle to this colonial town, hours past their deadlines--and ecstatic.

The Zapatista National Liberation Army had once again delivered what the media wanted.

The scene the rebels in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas had created for the reporters was perfect theater: a jungle backdrop, a cast of villagers expectantly lining the dirt road and a chorus of “Vivas” when a voice called out, “Viva the Zapatista Army.”

Four crisply uniformed Zapatistas, each carrying a rifle, escorted their prisoner, former Chiapas Gov. Absalon Castellanos, toward waiting government officials. Castellanos accepted a white-robed bishop’s offer of Ash Wednesday Holy Communion and as a bonus received the ashes of repentance that accompany the sacrament on that day.

The rebels had outmaneuvered Castellanos, who said he had nothing to repent, and government officials, who had wanted the prisoner released against the background of a new hospital built with federal funds.

Such public relations coups have surprised reporters as much as the rebels’ strategic expertise caught the attention of military observers. In the two months since they appeared, taking control of several southern Mexico towns, the Zapatistas have demonstrated a mastery of symbolism and image-making worthy of Madison Avenue.

Their very name evokes the memory of the revolutionary hero most closely linked to land reform, Emiliano Zapata, who was murdered at what the government had tricked him into believing would be peace talks.

The rebels have made bandannas and ski masks their trademarks. Their wisecracking poetic spokesman, Subcommander Marcos, has become a national hero.

“People think the Zapatistas are this cuddly little teddy bear,” one exasperated government official said recently. The rebels have successfully defied efforts to blacken their image.

Early in the fighting, the government accused guerrillas of being influenced and financed by foreign mercenaries. They responded by sending a squad of young, obviously Indian rebels to the edge of the Zapatista-controlled area and bringing reporters up to interview them in small groups.

Even though the encounters were obviously staged--several groups of journalists crossed paths coming and going--it satisfied the media’s desire to film and quote guerrillas, while undermining the government’s assertions about their origins.

The Zapatistas even took on Televisa, the broadcast giant, much to the amusement of other reporters, who resent the haughty privilege that the network usually flaunts.

Adopting government terms, Televisa reporters described the rebels as “transgressors” and lawbreakers. The Zapatistas took revenge by banning the network from the nine days of peace talks that ended this week.

Their mastery of image hit its zenith during those talks.

Half the delegates appeared in combat gear and the other half in traditional Indian dress of heavily embroidered blouses and straw hats with ribbons radiating from the peak. At the first press conference, each spoke in an Indian language, declaring that theirs is an indigenous, Mexican movement and forcing government peace commissioner Manuel Camacho Solis to agree.

Then, Marcos unfolded and proudly held high a Mexican flag. As cameras began clicking, a flustered Camacho Solis--himself no slouch at imagery--quickly grabbed a corner of the flag.

What the Rebels Achieved

Zapatista rebels in southern Mexico reached a 32-point peace accord with the government Wednesday that provids for:

Subdivision of large ranches in Chiapas state to facilitate more equitable land distribution, one of the insurgents’ main demands.

Renovation of the Chiapas state political system to permit more Indian representation.

A new federal law to allow Indians to operate businesses in their own language and incorporate their traditions and customs into local laws and courts.

A federal law prohibiting discrimination against Indians.

Compensation to Chiapas for the oil and electricity it supplies to parts of Mexico.

A government study of the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which the rebels oppose, on the Chiapas economy.

NEXT STEP: The agreement will be presented to Mexico’s Congress at its next regular session, scheduled for April.