Thousands of Mexicans turned up at polling booths around the country from early yesterday in support of the Zapatistas' "National Referendum on Indigenous Rights and the end of the War of Extermination".
The referendum ballot asked voters whether indigenous Mexicans should play an active role in the development of the country, whether their rights should be explicitly recognised in the Mexican constitution and if the country should be demilitarised, its soldiers sent back to barracks.
Five thousand unarmed rebels left their isolated villages last week and visited every voting district in the country to promote the referendum and extend their influence.
The Arturo Rosenbluth Foundation, a think-tank on labour and social issues, agreed to undertake the installation and monitoring of the booths, with 60,000 volunteers covering 9,000 voting booths, set up in metro stations, parks and schools.
The Zapatistas visited factories, schools and universities, played football against a team of former first-division players, chatted to tourists in Acapulco, met fellow indigenous Raromari and held a meeting on the US border, with one foot in each country.
The Mexican government has played down the importance of the referendum, describing it as "an irrelevant act of propaganda". Behind the scenes, however, government ministers persuaded TV and radio stations to cancel programmes on the referendum.
The referendum has no legal status, but the votes will put pressure on the government to implement the "San Andres accord on indigenous rights and culture", signed in February 1996 but later rejected by President Ernesto Zedillo.