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To: Bucky Katt who wrote (10479)	2/3/2003 11:31:17 AM
From: Bucky Katt	Respond to of 48461

Ranch owners under siege in Mexico Peasants blocking access to hotel in effort to take land By Elizabeth Fullerton Reuters February 3, 2003 MEXICO CITY -- The U.S. owners of an internationally popular hotel-ranch in Mexico's southern state of Chiapas are packing up and preparing to leave because of escalating aggression from pro-rebel Indian peasants who want to take their land. Glen Wersch, 49, and Ellen Jones, 55, have closed their 26-acre hotel, the Rancho Esmeralda, and the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City advised them to leave after staffers were assaulted and received death threats from members of the neighboring Tzeltal community. Local rock-wielding youths have blocked access to the ranch for weeks in an effort to cut off supplies and tourist revenue. Wersch says the government, which has allowed peasants to take over other ranches in Chiapas, has done nothing to stop them. "There's no question these guys are going to take the ranch," Wersch said Sunday. "But I'm staying here until there's an agreement with the [local] government to compensate me. Otherwise, if I leave, they'll say I walked off voluntarily." The couple, former Peace Corps volunteers from Idaho, are caught in a land dispute common in impoverished Chiapas, where the National Zapatista Liberation Army took up arms against the government in 1994 for Indian rights. Since 1994, pro-Zapatista peasants have invaded hundreds of ranches around Ocosingo, the nearest town to Rancho Esmeralda. The government has let the peasants keep the bulk of the property in an attempt at land redistribution. After nine years at the ranch--about 300 miles south of Mexico City--Wersch and Jones are packing up their belongings and trying to sneak them out on foot. "There's no way we can stay. It would be impossible for guests to feel safe here now," Wersch said. Since Dec. 12, residents of the Nuevo Jerusalen community have blocked the dirt road to the ranch, letting only the owners and local staffers pass. Tourists have had to pick their way to the ranch via an overgrown back route through nearby Mayan ruins. The ranch's administrator, Ernesto Cruz, 21, said residents of Nuevo Jerusalen seized him and kicked and beat him for six hours Thursday before releasing him with a message for the ranch owners: Get out and don't take anything with you. The 10 ranch workers have stood by the owners. Some have received death threats from the pro-rebel community. The ranch owners have asked for police protection, but they say the local government has indicated it is helpless in the strongly pro-Zapatista region. A local government official, German De La Rosa, said that blocking access to the ranch is illegal but that the government prefers dialogue rather than sending in police. The State Department issued a travel warning Friday for Americans in Chiapas because of threats against foreigners and businesses that serve them. The Chiapas government said the warning was overblown and that the problem was isolated to the ranch. Things heated up Wednesday night when Wersch said he was attacked by 30 locals who hurled rocks at his bus as he returned from town after driving his staff home. Rancho Esmeralda, which has 10 log cabins without electricity, an ornamental garden and a macadamia orchard, is listed in the 2002 edition of the Lonely Planet Guide as one of the top 10 places to stay in Mexico. "If this ranch goes down, it will have a tremendous impact on tourism in the region," Wersch said. chicagotribune.com