The story of two sets of deserters who abandoned the conflict zone in Chiapas, south-east Mexico, this year has shed light on the five-year counter-insurgency campaign waged by the Mexican government against Indian rebels.
On March 29th last, 16 alleged Zapatistas, sporting brand-new uniforms and old weapons, handed themselves in to the state governor, Mr Roberto Guillen, in front of the nation's TV cameras.
"This is a historic moment," said an emotional Mr Guillen, embracing the repentant guerrillas, all local indians.
Mr Guillen told the media that between 15,000 and 20,000 rebels had deserted the Zapatista movement since 1994, when the uprising began.
Days later, however, Mexico's investigative weekly El Proceso revealed that the "desertion" was set up by the ruling institutional revolutionary party, (PRI), to lower rebel morale and win congressional approval for a pending amnesty bill.
Half the deserters turned out to be local PRI members who had dressed up for the occasion.
The other eight deserters had been Zapatista rebels until February 1995, abandoning the organisation during a major Mexican army offensive at the time.
Each member of the group received a tractor, ten Swiss cows and four pigs in return for the staged desertion, according to documents signed by the Chiapas state agricultural ministry.
"We have as many deserters as the government can afford," joked the rebel leader, Subcomandante Marcos, reminding the authorities that the conflict is precisely about land and security for the dispossessed majority. "As regards the 20,000 deserters," added Mr Marcos, "I thought we were an insignificant force with just three hundred members?"
In a separate development, a former Mexican army officer, Capt Jesus Valle, won a two-year legal battle for political asylum in Texas, convincing US immigration judges that he had a "well-found fear of persecution" should he be forced to return to Mexico.
Capt Valle was stationed at the 30th military zone in Tabasco, just across the border from Chiapas state, when the Zapatista uprising began in January 1994. His unit was transferred to Ocosingo, the scene of intense rebel-government fighting, where he was ordered by his superior officer to kill "anyone who looks like a Zapatista" once the press were out of sight.
Capt Valle refused to obey the order and was relocated to Puebla state, where fellow soldiers warned him to disappear or face imprisonment or murder in his barracks.
On March 19th last, Capt Valle became the first Mexican soldier ever to be granted political asylum in the US and the first Mexican to be given sanctuary on the grounds of "a conscientious objection to killing his fellow Mexicans".
Amnesty International and other human rights groups accused the army of the summary execution of five rebel suspects in Ocosingo but lacked first-hand testimony.
The ruling party's handling of the Zapatista conflict has been contradictory, reflecting the unwillingness of the Zedillo administration to launch an all-out offensive against rebel positions, fearing a popular backlash. The offensive in February 1995 was cancelled after four days, as massive demonstrations around the country threatened to ignite social unrest.
The rebels have taken the propaganda initiative through successive national and international mobilisations including the recent consulta, or plebiscite, where almost three million Mexicans cast a vote in favour of rebel demands, principally the right to autonomy within the Mexican state.